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About Me

 



Hello and welcome to my blog!

I'm Tess. I have been married for 9 years to my husband, Michael.  We have two children, Aria (5) and Luke (3). We also have two cats, Chewbacca and Blitz.

I was diagnosed with Bipolar three years ago when Luke was 4 months old. I have had three hospitalizations for my Bipolar, and have gone through several medication changes in that time.

About 2 years after my diagnosis, after I got back into some fitness I discovered running.  I started by downloading the Couch to 5k app and trained all summer for the 5k at the Calgary Marathon.  Then about 3 weeks before the race, I was hospitalized for my third time. I wasn't sure if I would be out in time for the race. I was released, and then three days later I ran the 5k race.

After that race, I was hooked on running.  I eventually met more people in the community that also ran, and formed some good connections in my city.

In 2022, I underwent a hysterectomy, and about 7 weeks post-surgery I joined a learned-to-run club.  That club really helped in my recovery, and strengthen my love for running. I also ran an 8k and a 10k race that year.

Then at the beginning of 2023, I signed up to run my first half marathon. After many months of training, I ran the half marathon at the Calgary Marathon at the end of May 2023. 

Running has made living with Bipolar a bit easier. If it wasn't for running I am not sure where I would be today. Running has saved me.

Besides running, I also enjoy writing, photography, and spending time with my family. 

This blog is a lifestyle blog with a focus on running and mental health.


Thanks for stopping by.


Tess

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8 Tips for Mental Self-Care

Have you ever felt like your mind is going a mile a minute? Or do you get those scattered-brained moments?  Being a mom of two, working part-time, and actively training for a half marathon I often find my mind is cluttered and constantly distracted. Did I pack my daughter's lunch for school? What time is that meeting at work? How long is that long run on Saturday?  All of these kinds of questions are constantly running through my mind. But what should I do to settle my mind?  I've realized since my Bipolar diagnosis three years ago that I have a few tools which play a big part in calming my mind. Some of these tools might be beneficial for you too. Brain Dump Page The first tool I use is a brain dump page. This comes in a few forms for me.  Sometimes I use an app called  Daylio . At the end of the day, I write out all the thoughts that are going through my head. That could be stuff I want to do, things coming up in the week, etc. This gives me some peace of mind and helps me or

From Bipolar to Half Marathon

  As I reflect on this past month, I am proud of a few things.  I may have run a half marathon at a race yesterday, but that wasn’t my first half marathon in technicality. As some of you may have seen on my stories on Instagram a few weeks ago, I ran my first half marathon during my last long run with my friend, Barb.   The goal for that long run was to run 20k.   We decided to take our time and go at an easy pace. It was a good run. We pretty much did a loop of the north and south side of the city. During the run, we had some good conversations, and it was a run I didn’t listen to music at all. As we neared the end of the route, we looked at each other and said, “I bet we could go a bit further, and complete 21.1k.   At the 20k distance, I probably could have finished there as my hip was giving me issues, but I wanted to see us finish 21.1k together.   Sometimes you need those moments to push yourself and do something hard. Finishing the last long run with my friend was an amazi

Summer Training Begins

On Saturday, I did my longest post-half marathon run. I broke up my run a bit. I ran from my house to ParkRun, and then from ParkRun back home. That was a total of 15km.   It was threatening to rain but just ended up being humid. I really struggled in the heat a few times during my run. I think my body is still not used to the summer temperatures, as I did most of my training in the winter. After I ran the 15km I decided it was time to start training again for another half marathon. I'd told myself that I would start training again in mid-June but now felt like a better time to start. In September, I will be running the half marathon distance at the Lethbridge Police Run. Last year I did the 10km race at this event, and I wanted to bump it up to the half marathon this time.   I was hesitant to sign up for another half marathon this year. My original plan was to take it easy during the summer and train for 10km. I had already run two half marathons since I had run the eq