Word of the week - World Mental Health Day

On World Mental Health Day Saturday October 10th 2026 I started the day with one of my oldest friends having spent the night there with breakfast then headed off to parkrun in Monmouth where I started my parkrun journey, just 4 weeks after beginning the couch to 5k a whole year ago on Friday October 10th 2025.

I started running to clear my head after our daughter Stephanie died in October 2024 realising that a year on there was no support out there. No support from the NHS, private counselling only did so much and was expensive and support groups, like counselling only seem to run between the hours of 9-4pm Monday to Friday with the occasional evening session with most of it online and with huge waiting lists. My only real support in the early days was my GP and the Samaritans, for which I'll be eternally grateful.

Running has giving me the head space I need to 'just be' I'm not great at joining in with things, new places, new people, but I've plucked up the courage to join the gym and a couple of classes and socialise a little but too often I find myself getting tearful and when I'm running I don't need to hold it together in quite the same way.

I hadn't run since I left school in 1987 and I finally got round to stopping smoking in February 2026, something I also did when I was in school.

Committing to running, stopping smoking, dealing with grief has been physically and mentally exhausting and continues to challenge me, but I do like a challenge.

Since starting couch to 5k, I've taken part in two 25k ultras which I've part run and walked, a walking marathon, mostly ran/jogged the Brighton Marathon this year and completed my first ultra marathon mostly jogging in September this year. I'm now training for the London Marathon on the Saturday in April 2026 for which I got in on a ballot and I'm aiming for 5 hours.

I've been doing all of this also for Bowel Research UK, racing funds, £2,000 to date and raising awareness as Stephanie died of an Ischemic Bowel, almost possible to diagnose and in her case too late to treat. Bowel Research UK also conduct research into Hirchsprung Disease a condition that our eldest grandson was born with and spent a considerable amount of time in hospital with and had numerous surgeries in the first two years of his life having a stoma for a period of time also.

Running hasn't been a cure, it is one of many coping strategies, it's what's working for me right now. Some days I fall out of love with it and wander why I'm putting myself through such pain and such commitment, then I think, why not? I enjoy it. It gets me off my arse, out the house and doing something and dinging something that can help others in a small way through fund raising, raising awareness and I'm keeping the memory of Stephanie alive.

If you want to donate that would be lovely.

#doingitforstephanie

10th -12th October 2026 Post Comment Love - World Mental Health Day

Welcome back to #PoCoLo with Stephanie from Bosworth.Life and I.

Post Comment Love #PoCoLo is a friendly weekly linky where you can link up any blog post you've written this week. If you're new or a regular visitor we're sure you'll find something of interest.

Please leave a comment with the host you link up with and we'd also appreciate your help spreading the #PoCoLo word on Twitter/X tag us and we'll RT. You can find us here: Stephanie - @BosworthLife and Suzanne - @ChickenRuby Please also add our badge to your post.

I'll be catching up with reading your posts, sharing and commenting over the next few days. 

Sorry I'm late with posting this week. It's been a difficult week for us, marking the 2nd year since Stephanie died on Wednesday. It was also Peter's birthday on Tuesday and it's really hard knowing how to proceed.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

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We went into Worcester after work on Tuesday for coffee and some shopping and had bought dinner to cook at home. We'd done the same the day before Stephanie died. The following day the bin lorry came and I went to work in a school, same as the year she died, but instead of leaving work at lunch time, collecting Peter and driving to the hospital in Gloucestershire, this year we went to the Cotswold Designer Village for a walk round and to have dinner out. Last year I'd taken the day off work and we'd driven to the Forest of the Dean to lay flowers where we'd planned to scatter her ashes, which we'd been denied.

We're at peace now, we've been accepting she died, but we're still stunned by the fact she died so suddenly.

I'm sharing this because it is World Mental Health Day and the best thing I've done to help me with my grief has been to keep on talking. Talking about Stephanie, talking about how I'm feeling, talking about what I'm missing and talking about how my future has changed without Stephanie and finding a new road to travel on.

This journey hasn't just been about me. It's been about our family, but I'm not here to tell their story, only my part of the story. Peter often says to me that there is a 'we' and an 'us' and that is a part we often share with family and with our friends, together and separately, but when I blog I tell only my side.

Everyone's starting point is different, everyone copes and deals with things in different ways and that is fine. I'm not just sharing my story here, I talk with friends, I listen and support with their grief, sometimes we're at the same point and it's just silence, sometimes one of us at peace and the other is angry and looking for answers. There are no answers, there is no cure, there is no point in time when suddenly it all becomes clear and better. It just all becomes different and you learn different ways to cope or to manage other peoples awkwardness or you accept people just don't know what to say and one of you walks away.

Or you just stop reading and scroll on past and that's ok too.

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Running away from 2025 and into 2026 and a Marathon. Bowel Research UK

On October 7th 2024 our 36 year old daughter Stephanie died, the end of 2024 passed in a blur. We went through most of 2025 in shock, in a daze, grieving, going through all the firsts, nothing getting easier, just a little more prepared to handle the bumps in the road, with a network of friends helping us navigate our way.

Marking the first anniversary of Stephanie's death was a turning point. I wanted to do something in Stephanie's memory and the one thing Stephanie could do for herself with total independence was to walk. So I signed up for an Ultra Challenge as close to the anniversary as I could and walked 15 miles across the Chilterns.

I trained whilst we were out in Australia visiting one of Stephanie's brothers who had flew home briefly for her funeral and we'd not seen for almost a year, I delayed starting my new job by 2 months.

Whilst in Australia we visited the MONA Museum in Tasmania to see the Poo Machine and I've used every opportunity I've had to promote Bowel Research UK who I'm raising awareness and fundraising for  as Stephanie died from Bowel Ischaemia. It causes around 3000 deaths a year in the UK and is almost impossible to diagnose.

On World Mental Health Day October 10th 2025, I signed up to the Brighton Marathon and started the Couch to 5k. 4 weeks later on November 8th 2025 I took part in my first parkrun at Chippenham Playing Fields in Monmouth. The following week the town was devastated by flooding but I was back at the parkrun on December 20th and on New Years Day I took part in one at Southsea.

I've joined a gym for endurance training and I run 2-3 times a week. I haven't run more than 5k, but I have been able to run/walk 9k and I've been mostly walking/running the Malvern Hills. On Wednesday I'm going along to my first running club evening.

I'm taking part in another Ultra Challenge in London walking a marathon on January 24th. My aim is to complete the route in under 8 hours, as the Brighton Marathon has a cut off of 8 hours to get a medal and along with raising funds and awareness that is my goal.

Please share my fundraising page

Please share this post

Please share our story to help raise awareness of Bowel Research UK

I'd love it if you'd come running with me, if you have any training tips to share.

If you have any ideas to help me raise funds please let me know.

All help and support is welcome. I'm going to need it.

I’m linking up with Anne from Raisie Bay for Word of the Week.