Gretch Runs

Hello everyone! Last week, I had the privilege of hearing Arianna Huffington speak at Penn State, and she inspired me very much during her speech. She has been one of my idols for a while, and she's a big inspiration to me. Wanting to thank her for taking her time to come to my school, I sent her an email, which she followed up with an invitation to submit an article for the website . Over the weekend, I worked on an entry about-what else-running. Below is what I submitted. I'd love to hear your thoughts and hopefully one day it'll end up on the Huff Post! I am high right now. I got out of class about an hour ago, and couldn’t even go back to my apartment before getting my fix. During class, I kept imagining the amazing feeling I’d soon have, the feeling I have now. I feel free, happy, completely and utterly alive. I just got done running six miles, and I have runner’s high. ​ Runner’s high, a term coined in the 1970s, can more accurately be describ...

Hello! What a week this has been. I did my longest training run yet and also went home for the weekend to surprise my mom for her birthday. While I was there, I got the chance to run with my dad, and had a terrific hill workout with him. Here's a look at my workouts from the past week: ------------------------------------------------------ Monday 1.30.12, Wednesday 2.1.12, Friday 2.3.12 Volleyball tournament. My team unfortunately came in last. Hopefully next time I'll have more luck! ------------------------------------------------------ Tuesday 1.31.12 This was my long run. I felt really great during it, and didn't really get sore or tired at all until mile 8. At that point, a little boy with his dad started to run alongside me for a block, and when he couldn't run any more he yelled back to his dad "I want to run like that when I'm older!" It was a great motivation to keep going, and hopefully I've inspired a new generation of runners...

Believe deep down in your heart that you're destined to do great things. - Joe Paterno Last post I said that I felt that I was running for more than myself, and that couldn't have been any more true this past week. When the news of Joe Paterno's death swept the campus, people were very upset and emotional. After hearing all of the stories of his philanthropy and love of Penn State, I was so moved and thankful for him...more than ever before. Every run I did that week I did for Coach Paterno, and did it with the intensity, desire, passion and dedication he expected from everyone. Rest in peace, Coach. I had great workouts last week. I did a long run of 8 miles on Monday, easy run of 3 miles on Wednesday, and a tempo run on Friday. During the tempo run, I did an easy 1-mile warm up and cool down with 3 miles at a 8:30 pace. I'm taking a volleyball class, and last week we began our first tournament. This consists of playing three games per day three times a week fo...