Gretch Runs

Hey guys!  Is it really Friday already?  And the last day of the month?  I swear, it feels like September didn't even happen.  This month just flew by and was really busy!  I'll be sure to update you more next Thursday in the " What's New With You " linkup- make sure you join Kristen and me! For now, I have a bunch of favorites to share with you today.  Let's get to it! Empties Caress Adore Forever - 9/10 - I love this line of body washes.  The scent actually stays on you all day, and I always feel really clean after using it! Suave Daily Clarifying Shampoo - 8/10 - I use this shampoo about once a week to get rid of any build up from dry shampoo or other hair products.  This one is cheap and does the trick. Ban Refresh Cloths - 10/10 - These are so great to have in a gym bag or in the car to make yourself feel refreshed and a bit more clean when you have to rush after a workout! elf Lip Exfoliator - 7/10 - This is a great and cheap exfolia

Hi everyone!  It's been a while since I've done a Wednesday Review post, and I'm excited to bring it back.  Today I'm going to be talking about one of my favorite beauty and food products- coconut oil.  If you read any beauty, health, or fitness blog you've probably seen this product all over the place, because it's pretty much magical.  You can eat it, feed it to your pets, use it in your hair, clean your face....pretty much everything! I was lucky enough to get to sample a few different coconut oil products from the brand Skinny and Co , and I'm excited to share my thoughts!  I've been using all of the products for a few weeks now, and have a pretty good idea of what works and what isn't for me. Just a disclaimer- I was sent these products for review, but I'm not being paid at all for this post!  All of the thoughts are 100% honest :)  If you're interested in trying anything from Skinny and Co, you can save 15% by using the code SKINNYC

What a week!  The stars were aligned and I ended up having the best week (by far) of training.  Thankfully, there are only two weeks until race day, so I'm hoping to ride this training high right to the starting line.  This was my final hard week of training, so let's take a look at how it all went down: Monday 4 miles / 36:40 / 9:09 pace I started my week off with a little tempo run.  I did a half mile warm up, followed up 3 miles at an 8:00 pace and half mile cool down.  This felt like a comfortably hard pace, which tells me I did it right!  Also- how about that fog over the city?!  Beautiful! Tuesday Yoga / 45:00  I was actually planning on trying out a new class at my gym, but the instructor was out of town so I ended up doing yoga instead.  Hopefully I'll get to try it next week! Wednesday Rest Day!  I started to feel a little sick on Wednesday and decided to take a rest day.  I'm not sure if it's allergies, changing in

Happy Friday (and officially-fall) everyone!  I'm feeling a little under the weather, so I'm looking forward to sleeping in this weekend and catching up on some Fall TV premiers (did anyone watch This Is Us ?  So good!).  I have so much to share today, so let's get to it! Linking up with  Mar ,  Cynthia  and  Court  as well as  Heather  and  Momfessionals Endangered Species Chocolate Dan picked this chocolate up for me on a whim at the store, and it's so good!  It's certified vegan, gluten free, non-GMO, and a portion of it goes to support endangered animals!  It actually tastes good too, so you really can't lose.  We found it at our local grocery store, but I've also seen it at Whole Foods, and it's available on Amazon!  YUM ! Miley's Back! Little known fact of me- I was a huge  Hannah Montana fan growing up.  I don't even think that I was the target demographic, but I watched that show religiously, own the movie, and

Hi everyone!  In Dan's last health update, he mentioned that he started to do daily exercise to strengthen his core.  He's had back problems for the past two years, and I taught him a few stretches and exercises to help strengthen his back, as well as work his entire core.  He started doing them daily, and it's already making a big difference for him! Today I'll be sharing a weekly schedule that he's been following.  Each week, I slightly bump up the number of reps for each exercise.  You can use these numbers as well, or do whatever works for your current physical level.  You can also add multiple sets of each exercise and do a few circuits to really challenge yourself! I have to make the normal warnings and disclosures here- I'm not a doctor or medical professional so do these exercises at your own risk! The exercises Situps - do either regular/full range situps or crunches. Pushups - do these either on your knees or toes. Plank - do these e

This week flew by like none other.  I traveled a bit for work, which was great for my running!  I managed to have one of my best weeks of the past few months, so I would call it a success!  Here's a lot at how the week went down: Monday 5 miles /  45:40 / 9:07 pace I was at Penn State for recruiting and went on a morning run around campus.  The weather was absolutely prefect and my entire body just wanted to run fast!  I haven't seen paces like this in a while so it was really encouraging. Tuesday Yoga / 45:00 Lunchtime yoga as usual!  I was getting some headaches when we did any poses upside down (like downward facing dog) for long periods of time, so I took it easy for parts of the class. Wednesday 3 miles / 26:15 / 8:45 pace 1 mile cool down / 10:00 / 10:00 pace   Morning speed workout on the treadmill.  I did one mile repeats of gradually picking up the pace, starting at 6.0 and increasing speed .5mph every quarter mile, with a mile cool-down.

Happy, happy Friday to you all!  This week was absolutely crazy busy and I'm writing this post a lot later than usual (aided with the help of some pumpkin beer and leftover Papa John's pizza), so there's no time for an intro today.  Let's get right into these favorites so we can enjoy the weekend! Linking up with  Mar ,  Cynthia  and  Court  as well as  Heather  and  Momfessionals Pumpkin Beer source Since I'm currently enjoying my favorite type of beer, I figured I should at least share what I'm drinking!  Every year, I get a few mix packs of different types of pumpkin beers and pick my favorites for the year.  This year that would go to Sam Adam's 20 Pounds Of Pumpkin , New Belgium Pumpkick (thank you Lynne !) and Southern Tier Pumking .  Do yourself a favor and grab one of these, put on a flannel, and enjoy the crisp fall air! Fall TV It's that time of year when all of the good shows start, and I could not be more excite

Happy Wednesday everyone!   This week I got to go up to my alma mater- Penn State- for a recruiting trip.  It was a lot of fun and I thought it would be interesting to share what I ate while I was there.  Here's a quick look at my day, along with my eats! I woke up at 6:30 to go for a run in the morning.  I always loved running around campus when I was a student, so every time I visit I try to go for a jog!  I ended up running five miles, and stopped at Starbucks on my way back to my hotel.  I ordered a pumpkin spice latte with coconut milk- the syrup they use has condensed milk in it so it's not vegan, but I had to have my annual PSL! The career fair started at 10:00, so I had to check out of my hotel and head to the college to set up around 9:00.  There was some food out for us, so I had some water and fruit salad.  Students started to come right away, so I didn't really have much time to eat! I snuck away around 12:45 to grab some lunch.  There was a huge

I'm kind of tired of saying this, but this was another not-so-good week for me.  I started out great with a solid run on Monday, then I had an unfortunate incident that had me missing work and my workouts for a few days.  The end of the week I got more on track, but I'm still upset for missing a few days! Either way, the race is just around the corner so I have to keep pushing.  Here's to hoping next week is better! Monday 4.5 miles / 43:18 / 9:37 pace I had off for Labor Day and had a great early morning run at North Park.  It was pretty crowded, but there was low humidity and it was a cool day.  Couldn't ask for better weather! In the afternoon, Dan and I were both doing some work on the house, and I hit my head pretty hard at one point.  It hurt, but I kept on painting our bedroom and thought I was fine.  Unfortunately, for a few days I had an awful headache, felt a little nauseous and dizzy (especially at work) and took a few rest days.  I'm fi

Happy Weekend everyone!  This was a weird week for me- any week that starts with a holiday always feels off. The warm weather and humidity is also back with a vengeance, so I'm more than ready for this week to be over!  I have some fun plans this weekend that I'll talk about below (WE ARE!).  Let's get into these favorites! Linking up with  Mar ,  Cynthia  and  Court  as well as  Heather  and  Momfessionals This Video I love watching YouTube videos, and one of the current crazes is beauty vloggers recreating their high school makeup looks.  Most of them have been fun to watch, but Jenna Marbles went all out and helped me relive some of the crazy fads from the 90s.  This is such  a hilarious video and I had to share it!  For all my 90s babies out there, this one's for you. Heat and Eat Oatmeal Most mornings I'm rushing out of the house to get to the gym, and rarely have time (or energy) to make a good breakfast.  When I saw this recipe on Budg

Hi everyone!  Today I have a much-anticipated post to share...all about my journey to veganism.  It's been an amazing experience so far, and now that I'm over two months in I feel ready to talk more about it!  And let's face it- I've been talking about it so much lately that it's about time I dedicate a post to it and answer some questions! Before we start, I want to make sure that you all know that I'm not trying to force you all to make changes or diss anyone's diet.  I just want to share my personal experience with switching to eating a plant-based diet.  I waited so long to write this post because I know this is a touchy subject, and the last thing I want to do is insult someone.  So, I hope that you'll respect my decision to switch, and I'll respect your decision as well.  Deal? Without any further ado, here are some tips to switching to a plant-based/vegan diet, along with some reasons why I made the switch (along with some helpful infog

Hi everyone!  I'm so excited to share today's post, because it's something that I've been working on for a while.  One question that I've gotten a lot since going vegan is "what do you eat?  doesn't it get boring?  what about lunch?"  Today's post is all about that - it's a full week of vegan lunches! I hope that in this post, I can show you that there is so much  variety and choice with eating vegan.  I'm feeling so inspired to come up with fun and exciting lunches.  I love all of the beautiful colors in each picture, and I can tell you each lunch was incredibly satisfying and delicious! For each day, I'll be sharing a main dish and three sides.  I'm using the Rubbermaid Lunch Blox container (I love how all the pieces snap together, and it comes with an ice pack that fits between the layers!). P.S. This is not a sponsored post, but that is an Amazon affiliate link!    I hope you enjoy this post, and get some new lunch ide