Mick Clohisey: From running the last mile with my father to national titles and the Olympics

Irish Olympian Mick Clohisey has ran and competed for Ireland across the world, from Belgrade to Rio de Janeiro, but October's Dublin marathon was significant for him.

The busy months of Clohisey's season as a cross country and marathon runner generally extend from August to January so running the Dublin marathon has always been a tricky event for him but 2018 was finally the year where the 32-year-old conceded and made the exception. Clohisey played Gaelic football and soccer as a youth but running always played a big part in his Clontarf upbringing with his father Vinnie once inviting him onto the track to run the final mile in the 1998 Dublin marathon, igniting a real love for the sport from there. Fast forward 20 years and Clohisey ran to a sixth place finish in this year's marathon, which ultimately secured him a national title. It was a special day for him and his family and a moment he had been waiting for for quite sometime.

"My father ran and I used to watch him run when I was young, I used to go and support him and I actually finished it with him one year," said Clohisey. "I ran the last mile with him when I was 12. "I don't think they allow that these days but my coach Dick Hooper was the first ever winner of Dublin. "He won it three times and yeah there was always a significance. The whole hometown thing was a factor, I had friends from the southside come out and support me, I had people from my club Raheny Shamrocks come out and it was probably the most enjoyable marathon I've ran and it made me want to come out and do it again."

Joy and int3erest are such important factors in an individual sport like running and Clohisey has had his ebbs and flows in this regard. He's always run throughout his life but during his mid-twenties, he reached a point where his interest started to wane, his thirst began to quench and his desires began to drift elsewhere. In his own words he lost interest with running for a while but through some travel and time off, his passion for the sport was soon reinvigorated.

"I took a few years out of the sport," added Clohisey. "I just lost a bit of interest for a few years so it kind of delayed the process of doing a marathon. There was a bit of burnout. "I didn't stop running I just drifted away from the competitive side of things. I was doing some races but I was training half-heartedly and doing some other things and went off travelling. I lost my real competitive edge for a while but I always had it in the back of my mind that I would come back. I was in my mid-twenties and I suppose when you're going at it every year there's a little mental burnout and you just want to do something different. "I never stopped running. I loved running. Even the whole simplicity of going for a run. I was jumping in races here and there and then it was just a natural situation where one thing led to another and I got this hunger back. I made the Irish European cross country team in Belgrade and that was the first stepping stone back and from there and since then I really got back into it. "I suppose my whole mindset changed. In your early twenties you might have a different view on things and you think you have loads of years to do this and then I kind of realised I had a gift and that I wouldn't be doing myself justice if I didn't fulfill my own desires. Looking back on the break it did me good because I got a fresh lease of life when I came back and who knows if I had have kept going at it if I'd still be running at the moment. Eventually I did my first marathon in Rotherdam in 2015 and then progressed well in Berlin and it just went on from there really."

His progress took him all the way to the 2016 Rio Olympics, a rather remarkable rise for someone who had only run their first marathon in 2015, but his performance was hampered by a foot infection. The infection was spurred on by a blister suffered in training and Clohisey admits that there were some telltale signs during training in the build-up to the Olympic Games and that he probably overstepped the mark with his preparations. "You live and you learn," he notes. The learning process has been steep and the journey has been long, and while he looks to make amends at Tokyo 2020 for his experience in Rio three summers ago, it's the buzz of competing again and representing Ireland that has re-energised his pursuit. eight courseStonicyear on-linepopupraces