Brock Day is preparing for the Gold Coast Marathon

Gold Coast Brock Day shares heartbreaking reason why he got into running and tips on how to conquer the fear of a marathon. Read his story

Living in London on a youth mobility visa, then-22-year old university graduate Brock Day woke to missed calls and messages to ring his mother urgently. That morning in 2013 he received news that would change his life - his father took his life.

“If you wake up to that you know something’s not right. Straight away I called mum and she just said dad’s done something stupid.

“It took a few minutes to process. I was in disbelief and denying it. Mum was in hysterics. I was in shock, packed my bags, got on the plane and headed home. I was trying to hold it together.”

Brock Day is preparing for the Gold Coast Marathon. Picture by Richard Gosling

Seven years later in 2020, Mr Day joined ‘Run for your life’, on the Gold Coast and began clocking up kilometres as a form of therapy. The group dissipated so he established his own: Sana Days (mes sana is Latin expressing healthy mind, healthy body.

It helps.

“The pain from losing my dad lingers. I wanted to shed light on mental health and have made that my purpose. Running definitely teaches you to keep pushing, keep moving forward when times do get tough and that resonates in real life.

“I know what it does for my mental health and the feeling I get after a big run. I’m not always going to jump out of bed in the morning and run a half marathon. I try to put myself in the post-run mindset and that usually gives me enough motivation to do it.

“It’s backed by science, you release those feel good chemicals in your brain, when you’re exercising that can reduce stress, symptoms of depression, anxiety and mental illnesses.”

He started running 3km and has clocked a 60km but recommends you “start small”.

Brock Day is preparing for the Gold Coast Marathon. Picture by Richard Gosling

“A couple of kms or a run-walk, break it up and then your fitness will improve and you’ll build confidence. If you enter events starting with a small distance, maybe 5km or 10km you really get the bug after you do an event, those finish line feels; you’ll probably straight away want to book in another one and challenge yourself.”

He registered Sana Days as a charity recently.

“Personally, I love the run clubs for the social side as well, you get the movement and connection. I never really push running a certain pace or time for anyone who comes, it’s more just about doing something positive to start the day. Whether you run or walk we go for a swim or a coffee afterward.

“My story has resonated with a lot of people. It might not be the exact same situations - like losing a loved one to suicide, but they may be going through a tough time and they see what I’m doing and trying to do something positive around a tough subject.”

His ultimate goal with Sana Days?

Brock Day is preparing for the Gold Coast Marathon. Picture by Richard Gosling

“I wasn’t educated enough about the topic of mental illness and depression. I never thought it would happen to me. (my Dad) was the biggest loss in my life and the biggest wakeup call that you can lose someone to suicide. Now I’ve got that purpose and passion; I can really direct my energy now to prevent other people going through what I went through.

“I do it not just for me but for him - because I know dad wouldn’t have wanted to go out that way and I assume he’d be looking down and he would be dirty that he did. He would also be proud of what I’m doing and trying to help other people. I do it for a lot of people, other than myself and I just want people to feel good, bring that suicide rate down and hopefully have a happier, healthier generation to come.”