Gretch Runs

Hello! I wanted to share a link with anyone interested in starting running, for those living in/visiting Pittsburgh. We have some amazing rail trails that have been renovated cleaned up that run along all three of the rivers. There are a few different sections, and the one that I usually run on is along the Northshore and goes by both PNC Park and Heinz Field. I found a map that shows all of the trails: http://www.friendsoftheriverfront.org/misc_docs/FOR_Brochure_Map_07_REV1.pdf They're so much fun to run or walk on and offer some amazing views of the city. It always makes my runs go by much quicker, and they're relatively flat so it's not too hard of a workout. Also, yesterday for my birthday I got an amazing GPS watch made by Nike: which I'm VERY EXCITED to start using. I'll be able to track my miles, calories, average pace, and many other stats. I'll talk more about how I like it once I'm able to use it. It's been a very busy week so f...

Good, better, best. Never let it rest. Until your good is better and your better is best. Today has been a very reflective week for me. It's my 21st birthday, and as I was running along the trails in Riverview Park last night, I thought back over the past year of how much I've changed. I would say that I definitely matured a lot through the past 365 days in multiple ways. I'm much more career-focused after completing my first internship. Last summer I was a technology intern at Progressive Insurance, and working for 12 weeks in the field helped me realize what life will be like after college. That helped me focus on the past year of school, giving me the two best semesters of college thus far. This summer, I'm interning at PNC Bank as a technology project manager, which has already allowed me to grow in so many ways, both professionally and technically. It helped me to narrow my vision and realize my potential in the work place. Other big changes that I've gone thro...

A little background information to start out... My name is Gretchen, and I'm a rising senior at Penn State University. From the time I was 9 years old until around 18, I was an extremely active and competitive runner. I ran cross country, indoor and outdoor track, and loved to do road races all over the city of Pittsburgh. When I was a junior in high school, I went through a few injuries, and basically quit caring about running (and fitness in general). I picked up the saxophone and joined my high school's marching band, and went on to be a part of the Penn State Marching Blue Band in college. This past year, I decided to sign up for the Pittsburgh Half-Marathon pretty much out of the blue to get myself to start running again. Although I didn't hit my target time of 2 hours, and finished around 2:08:00, I re-found my passion for running, and it's changed my life. Now that we're all caught up, why am I writing a blog? I'm not a writer by any means (I'm in Inf...