Gretch Runs

Happy Weekend!  After a lot of excitement and events this month, I was happy to have a week without plans.  Which, of course meant that I got sick!  I could feel something lurking for the past few weeks, and I finally caught it.  Luckily I just needed some extra rest, some vitamins and fluids, but I definitely enjoyed an off week.  I also took some time off running which felt weird, but it gave me time to think out my next running plan and future races.  I'll share more soon, but for now I'm looking forward to a chill weekend and sharing some favorites with you all today. I hope you all have a great weekend and I'll talk to you on Monday! linking up with  Erika ,  Heather , and  Friday   Five   Song : John Mayer - The Search for Everything I'm really in love with John Mayer's new album.  I haven't always been a big fan of his and I don't think that I've ever listened to an entire album before, but I'm really enjoying this.  It's

I feel like I've been reading like crazy lately, and have had a lot of luck with books lately.  I have a few to recommend today (as well as one that I really didn't enjoy).  I'm always looking for new books to add to my library list, so please let me know what you've been reading lately in the comments, and I hope you find a few to add to your own list! Fool Me Once by Harlan Coben Former special ops pilot Maya, home from the war, sees an unthinkable image captured by her nanny cam while she is at work: her two-year-old daughter playing with Maya’s husband, Joe—who was brutally murdered two weeks earlier. The provocative question at the heart of the mystery: Can you believe everything you see with your own eyes, even when you desperately want to? To find the answer, Maya must finally come to terms with deep secrets and deceit in her own past before she can face the unbelievable truth about her husband—and herself. My Thoughts :  This was a fast-paced b

Well, that didn't go as planned!  This weekend was my big race, my first marathon in nearly 4 years.  I was excited and felt ready.  Then the race started and everything went downhill (except for the course, which went up and down and up and down....).  Here's a look at how my final week of taper went, as well as the race itself: Monday Rest Day! Tuesday 3.1 miles / 9:28 miles  I felt great, which made it hard to keep the pace slow!  I ran in the morning before work and kept my pace slow enough that I didn't lose my breath or break a sweat. Wednesday Yoga Nice and easy flow just to keep everything loose. Thursday 4 miles / 9:15 pace The plan was to run 4 miles, with the middle two at marathon pace.  My "warmup" pace kept creeping up into that race pace territory, so I had to force myself to keep it slower.  I felt amazing and did this run with absolutely no issues, which made me super excited for the race! Friday Yoga

Happy Friday everyone!  This weekend is my marathon, which blows my mind.  The weeks have just flown by and it doesn't seem possible that it's already the last week of April!  I'm excited for the race and also have some fun things planned while we're visiting Gettysburg.  I'll be sure to share it all next week!  For today, I'll be talking about some of my favorite things from the week.  I hope you all have a great weekend, and good luck to everyone else racing on Saturday or Sunday! linking up with  Erika ,  Heather , and  Friday   Five   Song : The Cure by Lady Gaga I was not at Coachella but I heard that Lady Gaga debuted a new song at the festival.  I love the song so much and have been playing it non-stop ever since!  It's so catchy and up-beat..the perfect song for summer.  I definitely added this to my marathon play list (which you can find here ). Podcast : By The Book This technically isn't a podcast yet, but I had to s

It's finally race week and I have a lot of thoughts about it!  Since it's Thinking Out Loud Thursday , I figured it was a perfect time to share all (or at least most) of them. I've really enjoyed training .  This is a big deal to me, because I've always been someone that trains just so that I can race.  This time around, I've just been enjoying the training aspect!  I've found mileage that works really well for me and the majority of my runs have been amazing.  Even when I have a tough workout, I've always felt like I was getting stronger or becoming a better runner. This has been my best training cycle ever .  I ran more miles than ever, didn't skip out on any important workouts, and really pushed myself.  I think this has to do with feeling settled in my life- this was my first training cycle since moving into my first house, getting a job that I absolutely love, and getting married.  My life is good right now and I have a great routine, wh

I've made it through training and it's finally race week!  I had a great final week of taper and now I'm a few shake out runs away from running another full marathon.  I'm getting excited and have a lot of thoughts to share in a post, but for today let's just talk about how the week of training went. Monday Rest Day! Tuesday 3.1 miles / 9:23 pace Nice an easy run aroun the city to start my day.  I got to see a beautiful sunrise and the weather was perfect, which made me really appreciate these early morning runs!   Wednesday Yoga / 30 min It was absolutely gorgeous out, so I decided to do my yoga outside.  Nice and easy flow to get things stretched out. Thursday 4 miles / 8:44 pace Did not expect this run to go well, but it was amazing! Plan was 1 mile warmup, 1 or 2 miles at tempo (8:10-8:15), 1 mile cooldown. Ended up doing 2 miles at tempo with the first mile at 8:15 and second at 7:44!!! Felt so good the entire time, like

After an up and down training cycle, I finally made it to the taper!  Most runners seem to hate this time and call it the taper crazies, but I love it!  After beating up my body for months, I can finally back off and go back to having a somewhat normal life.  It's amazing!  This week was a lower mileage week an my boy absolutely loved it.  It's hard to believe that race day is less than two weeks away, but I'm finally starting to get some confidence back. Here's a look at my week of training! Monday Rest Day Tuesday 3.6 miles / 9:00 pace It was a wet, rainy day that only seemed to clear up while I was out running.  I could feel the rain about to start the entire time I was out, so that helped me keep up the pace on this run!  It was pouring by the time I got changed and walked across the street to work, so I finished just in time. Wednesday 5 miles / 8:59 pace I was supposed to do a hill workout, but my body just wasn't having it.  W

Hi everyone!  What a quick week..I can't believe that it's already Friday.  I also can't believe that it's snowing today...days after it was 80 degrees and it'll be in the 70s this weekend.  #PittsburghinSpring.  This was a great week that just seemed to fly by and I got a ton done.  I love having really productive weeks, and have a lot planned for this weekend as well!  Today I'm sharing my favorites and I hope you have a great weekend :) linking up with  Erika ,  Heather , and  Friday   Five   Song : Earth Wind and Fire I don't think there's any group that puts me in a good mood quite like EWF!  It might be the band geek in me, but I absolutely love their music.  I can't listen without tapping my toe or straight up dancing (depending on how many people are around).  My favorite is definitely Got to Get You Into My Life ...probably my favorite song of all time! Podcast : No Meat Athlete Radio If you're a vegan, or

Let's just say that March was not my month.  It seemed like everything was going wrong, starting with injuring my shoulder.  Nothing terrible happened (which makes me feel like a spoiled/privileged brat) but I was just in a funk all month.  April is already off to a much better start and I'm just putting March behind me.  Today I'm not going to complain, but I'm going to talk about what's new!  That's right...it's already time for the monthly linkup with  Kristen and me.  Make sure you link down below and tell me what's going on! 2017 Goals and Resolutions Break 4 hours in the marathon .   I skipped my race in March (Rock n Roll DC) because I tore/injured my rotator cuff.  Luckily I seemed to recover really quickly thanks to completely stopping running and yoga, and doing physical therapy religiously.  I'm feeling completely healed, but still am working on my endurance!! I'm nervous about the race but I'm going to do it no matte

Happy Tasty Tuesday everyone!  I'm all over the place today, because it's not Tuesday, and it's been quite a few months since I've done my monthly favorites.  It's been hard for me to get in a rhythm lately with my blogging schedule (I'll talk more about it tomorrow during the What's New With You link-up- make sure you join the fun!)  Today I'm going to be talking about some foods, drinks, recipes and products that I've been loving lately! Food Margarita Shot Blocks This technically isn't really food, but I had to share it.  I've been using these for my fuel during long runs and they work so well!  I love anything that's gummy, so the texture of these is fantastic.  They also have a mild flavor that isn't too sweet, and have some salt added which helps out a lot on warm days.  The blocks themselves are really big, so I typically eat about half of one every five miles, but take my time eating them.  I like doing this be