Gretch Runs

What a week this has been!  There have been some ups and downs in terms of our search for a house.  Lots of hours driving around to look at houses, sign paperwork, work on offers.  It's a tiring (and at times heartbreaking) process, but we're trying to enjoy it!  I'm more than ready for a weekend.  I'm excited to see some of Dan's family and celebrate his grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary.  I hope you all have a great weekend as well, and enjoy a peek into what I've been loving this week.   Linking up with  Mar ,  Cynthia  and  Court  as well as  Heather ! House planning As you all probably know by now (at least if you read the paragraph above), Dan and I are in the process of house hunting.  I'm one of those people who falls in love with every house that I see and is ready to sign on the dotted line that day, and Dan is NOT.  Instead of getting frustrated with the process, I decided to spend my time pinning and looking at interio

We've finally come to the last installment of my annual resolutions and goals!  I have quite a bit, but my philosophy for the year is go BIG or go HOME!  I also have to remind myself that my word of the year is CHANGE, so things might be tough for a while.  In the end, it'll all be worth it! For the final part of my goals, I'll be getting more personal.  We're going to talk about financial goals and personal goals.  I have to warn you that I'm going to be talking about actual financial numbers, so if that topic doesn't interest you or makes you uncomfortable, you might want to skip to the bottom for an exciting announcement.  Now, let's get to the goals! Financial Goals   Spending freeze until my birthday (June 28) I'm actually doing a spending freeze with my blogging buddy Sokphal , and we set up some ground rules (borrowed from the blog the Fashion Fast ) : 1. No purchases of new outerwear, clothes, shoes, or accessories EXCEPT

I've been meaning to do a What I Ate Wednesday post during my Whole30 to show you all what I eat in a day.  I've been getting a lot of questions about what all you can eat and if the food is actually good (a lot, and YES).  What better way to give you a closer look at the program than a peak into what I had to eat for an entire day? The day that I'm sharing is from Sunday, when I did my long run of 13 miles .  Here's what I had! Breakfast : Sauteed spinach and hash browns 2 poached eggs Banana with almond butter and unsweetened coconut flakes Coffee Before going for a run, I never used to have any breakfast.  Everything seemed to upset my stomach, so I would usually grab a piece of fruit before heading out.  In fact, before my half marathon PR , all I had was an apple and a few bites of a honey stinger waffle so I wouldn't get cramps!  After some experimentation, I've found some foods that don't upset my stomach and keep me energetic an

Hi everyone!  Today I'm so excited to share my first recipe on GretchRuns.  I know that I promised a recipe for egg cups, but I'm still working on that and just had to share this easy and delicious snack.  The eggs will be coming next week, swear!  This one is so great that I just couldn't hold off on sharing!   I've been loving Lara Bars during the Whole30 for a quick snack, but they're pretty expensive for having such a simple ingredient list.  I played around with some recipes that I found online and experimented with my own flavors, and made my own!  I decided to make them into balls, because I think they're more fun that way and easier to grab and go.  Today I'll be sharing two varieties, but I'm working on developing more since these are so fun to experiment with! 2 Ingredient Energy Bites Ingredients: 1 part dates 1 part salted cashews Directions : Blend dates until they are a thick paste, and move to a bowl Blend cashew

Another week of training has come and gone, and I keep feeling stronger and stronger.  This week we were hit with a bit of the blizzard, but luckily I was able to get outdoors for most of my runs.  I'm hoping this week will be a bit more mild (and maybe even be able to meet with the True Runner marathon training group for the first time!), but overall I was really pleased with my week of training! monday rest tuesday 3.5 miles / 33:04 / 9:26 pace This was a very, very cold run!  I bundled up like crazy and was still freezing.  I will gladly take cold weather on my short, easy runs over a cold 15 miler, so I didn't mind it too much.  I ended the run with 4 strides going down a side street by my apartment which is about 100m long. Group Centergy The stretches felt great, and I can feel my balance and flexibility improving! wednesday 5 miles / 46:30 / 9:18 pace Once again, marathon training track practice was cancelled due to weather.  I

I apologize if anyone saw this posted last night.  I had the wrong time scheduled, so you might have seen this post half-finished!  Whoops! I can barely believe it, but this is my final week of planning for the Whole30!  I thought that by this point I would be counting down the hours until day 31, and planning out my first non-compliant meal.  To be honest, I see no point in changing my eating habits right away. I'm happy where I am and eating so much great food, and my training hasn't suffered one bit.  I'll talk more about my transition plan next week! Week 3 Update I guess it goes without saying that week three was another success for me.  I did wake up a bit more tired than usual, but that's due to staying up late to watch Australian Open matches every night!  Other than that, my energy levels have been really high all day long, and I've been feeling great during my workouts.  I also noticed that I haven't been feeling sick or had any stomach is

Happy Friday everyone!  I don't know about you, but I'm ready for the weekend.  For some reason, if I have a four-day week, I always seem so much busier both at work and at home.  It's almost like I need to cram that day off into the rest of the week. I hope that everyone stays safe this weekend!  There's a huge snow storm in the forecast all over the place, so please be careful out there.  I love what Dorothy said on Instagram- "One missed run WILL NOT RUIN a race or your training, but one run can certainly RUIN a race if you fall or get injured."  Now, onto the favorites! Linking up with  Mar ,  Cynthia  and  Court  as well as  Heather ! Favorites Deer Park Sparkling Water I mentioned before that I've been loving to drink some La Croix water while I'm on the Whole30.  Since added sugars and alcohol are out, I've been relying on it to get a fizzy fix, and for a break from all the water!  Unfortunately, it's pretty

Happy Thursday!  Today I'll be sharing part two of my yearly goals.  Today it's all about fitness and health.  This is probably the group that is the scariest to me, and has the most ambitious goals.  Some of these goals I made specifically to challenge myself and get out of my comfort zone, so I'm both nervous and excited to work on these.  I hope you enjoy reading about my goals, and be sure to share yours in the comments! Fitness Goals Run 1200 miles After some trial and error last year, I've come to realize that my body does best between 25 and 35 miles a week.   Last year I had the goal of hitting 1,000 miles (which I barely missed).  With training for at least one full marathon this year, I know that I can easily hit that number, so my goal is to do 1,200 miles.  That's an average of 100 miles each month, which is definitely doable for me.    PR in two distances I set a lot of PR's last year thanks to consistent training, and I know th

Oh man, do I love Etsy!  I could waste hours just going through all the different products that are available.  I also get inspired by the products that are offered or the art that is available.  I always think to myself, "Hey- I could do that!"   Throughout the years, I've bought my fair share of items off of Etsy.  Some are items that are unique and I would definitely recommend, which I'll be sharing today, and others were complete misses.  I'll also be sharing some things that are on my wish list, which I think is even more fun!  I hope you enjoy, and maybe even find something to add to your wish list! Plum Paper Designs Planner I've been talking a lot about my planner lately, and I'm in love with it.  This is actually my second year in a row getting one from Plum Paper Designs, and they made some improvements in this version.  Instead of having a frosty page covering up the planner cover, it's a new material that is water and tear