The release of endorphins was amazing and I felt good about myself again<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\u201cI was in Marlay Park, where my athletics club was. I had the label \u2018I\u2019m an Olympian, that I can do every event great\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it wasn\u2019t the case. After the first one, I died. I thought I could stay with the others but I couldn\u2019t. I ran a 5k in probably 25 minutes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI expected more but even after feeling I\u2019d not done enough, I realised I was out in the air, I was with my wife Charlotte, I was among people and I was already starting to feel better.<\/p>\n
“We grabbed a coffee and I was set up for the day. The release of endorphins was amazing and I felt good about myself again.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted to better myself and I was eating and sleeping again. It was a massive benefit to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"David](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/c50adf0e-6adf-42e8-be95-129c812b14ee.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
David Gillick takes a selfie at the Marathon Kids Run in Ballymore Eustace GAA. Photo: Michael Kelly<\/p>\n
Gillick is set to release his memoir, The Race, in October, which will track his entire career and the world of Irish athletics.<\/p>\n
But right now, he\u2019s launching free places available for a six-week couch-to-Parkrun programme in Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway, Kilkenny, and Donegal. This is part of his life after athletics \u2013 and he says he\u2019s keen to help make society a better place.<\/p>\n
The programme, beginning on September 1, will give participants a training plan supplemented by weekly in-person training with a qualified coach at one of six selected parkrun locations nationwide.<\/p>\n
Gillick says he understands some people feel out of place when it comes to running. But he assured interested applicants, \u201cthere will be someone there to support you every step of the way\u201d.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s coaches on board, webinars and WhatsApp groups, to help runners. And the public don\u2019t have to run, they can walk or volunteer. The initiative is about \u201cbuilding community, helping physical and mental health and ending isolation\u201d.<\/p>\n
\nThere\u2019ll be people with you every step<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\u201cThis is about physical and mental health. It\u2019s not to put pressure on people to see how fast they run. This is geared towards people who were never involved in parkrun.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe you might be a bit intimidated, you might not want to go and feel maybe you\u2019ll be isolated and left behind.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat won\u2019t be the case. There\u2019ll be people with you every step. We want to target people who aren’t Parkrunners.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want people to embrace it. Maybe you\u2019ll ease your way into a jog, who knows.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gillick still attends the Marlay Park Parkruns and he\u2019s witnessed young people increasingly coming to the events. But there\u2019s older people too, sometimes volunteering. The events help provide opportunities for people to meet others and form friendships.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis type of coaching would cost so much if you paid for it, so it\u2019s just great,\u201d he said. \u201cFor me, it\u2019s about creating an environment we want to live in, where we want our kids to grow up in. An environment where there\u2019s opportunities and fun, a chance for people to be happier and take those initiatives because I\u2019ve gone through it \u2013 feelings of isolation and feeling lost.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I know the impact running had on my life and what it can do for others, too. We can all play our part in making life better. And tell your friends and family about this too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Register at yourhappypace.ie. There are up to 50 places available at each of the following Parkrun locations, with applicants notified in advance.<\/p>\n
The locations are: Poolbeg Parkrun, Ringsend, south Dublin; UCG Parkrun, Co Galway; Ballincollig Parkrun, Co Cork; Mungret Parkrun, Co Limerick; Kilkenny Parkrun, Castle Park, Co Kilkenny; Letterkenny Parkrun, Co Donegal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Register at YourHappyPace.ie and access six-weeks of coaching to run \u2013 with walkers and volunteers also welcome Now…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":83289,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[1198,210,56676,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-83288","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fitness","8":"tag-fitness","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-laura-lynott","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114897149560344857","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83288","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83288"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83288\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83289"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}