Gretch Runs

Hi everyone!  Today I'm excited to share my Buffalo Creek Half Marathon recap with all of you.  If you've been following along, you know that I've been training for this race for the past 10 weeks, and my goal was to average an 8:30 pace (which would be a 1:51:26 half marathon).  My previous PR was 1:54:34, so I just would have been happy with anything under this time. I was excited to do this race because a lot of my local running friends have their PR's on this course.  It's known for being a fast course, because it's pretty much all downhill (just look at that elevation chart), and is on a crushed limestone trail so you don't have to worry about making turns or hitting the tangents.  Plus, this is a mid-October race in Pennsylvania on a shaded trail, so the weather is usually perfect for running. I drove up to the race with Jessie , and parking was really easy.  The race starts at a church in Cabot, and there were lots of volunteers out directing ...

Hi everyone!  Last week was my 10th week of half marathon training, which meant that it was race week!  After putting in tons of miles and hours of recovery, would all my hard work payoff?  Keep reading to find out! Monday Rest Day I had run 3 days in a row the week before (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday) so I took Monday off.  Selma and I went on a long walk and I did some yoga! Tuesday 3 miles Nice and easy run around the park.  Nothing special about this run, but I had to keep reeling in my pace! Wednesday 5.75 miles / 9:13 pace The final speed workout!  This one was called "Fun Reminder" and was supposed to be easy- 1 mile warmup, 2x1 mile at goal pace, then 2x half mile at goal pace, followed by 1 mile cool down.  Jessie and I met up early before work to get this done, and it wasn't too bad!  We had no trouble hitting our paces and it felt great.  Wouldn't really call it "fun" but it was a good final work...

TGIF!  This week has felt extra long for some reason, and I am so ready for the weekend!  I have some big plans, including my race!  I already picked up my packet and was told by the race director that I'll definitely PR by at least  10 minutes (he's got some jokes!!).  While I'm not feeling that confident, I'm mostly just excited to get out there!  The leaves have finally started to turn in my area, so I just know the course is going to be gorgeous.  I'll try to get pictures, but hopefully I'll be so focused and running suuuuuper fast that I won't be able to ;) Here are some favorites from the week, and I hope you all have a fantastic weekend!  To any local friends running Buffalo Creek as well- see you there and good luck!! linking up with  Erika ,  Heather , and  Friday   Five   Song Demi Lovato - Lonely I'm so excited that Demi Lovato's new CD - Tell Me You Love Me- is out!  Sorry Not Sorry ...

Well friends, it's time for another half marathon!  This has been my best and most fun training cycle so far, and I made it through without any issues or roadblocks at all (knock on wood..still have a few days left!).  I kept waiting for an injury or sickness or something to come and derail my training, but it never seemed to happen. Here are a few things that I changed about my training this time around, that really seemed to make a difference: - I started with a really solid base .  It seems like when I start training for a race, I'm starting off at ground zero and have to build up mileage.  This time around, I made sure that I was already able to run at least 8 miles, and my weekly mileage was hovering around 25 miles (you might also remember that I did my first run streak right before training started!).  This made it so much easier to get right into training, and I could tell that I was improving pretty much immediately. - I stretched or did yoga af...

Just like that, it's already race week.  I swear, this training cycle went by so quickly , and it's hard for me to believe that I've already completed 9 weeks of training, and on Saturday I'll be racing another half marathon.  I have so many conflicting thoughts and goals for the race and honestly don't know what to expect.  I'm going to try to get my thoughts together and share them later this week.  As for now, let's take a look at how my final week of training went: Monday SUP Yoga / 1 hour I had the day off work for Columbus Day, but had absolutely no desire to go running.  I was still feeling annoyed by having a really bad final long run and wanted to give myself a day off to get my head together.  I decided the best thing to do would be going out on the lake on my paddle board and just relax.  I went to a more secluded area and it was so relaxing.  I also ended up taking Selma out for an extra-long walk, so overall it was a gr...

Is it Friday already?  The last few weeks have gone by sooooooo quickly.  Work has been busy lately, and Dan has been traveling for work, so it's just been a flurry of activity.  I also realized today that I haven't been blogging at all recently (minus my weekly training recap and Friday post).  I miss writing and hope I can get back into it soon! I am writing today with my typical Top Five Friday post and am here to wish you all a great weekend!  Let's get to my favorites: linking up with  Erika ,  Heather , and  Friday   Five   Song Sam Smith - Pray Another new song from Sam Smith came out, and it's SOOOO GOOD!!! Now I'm just eagerly waiting for his full album to come out.  The art work for the record recently came out which means the release date has to be soon!  I can not WAIT. Podcast Cults If you're looking for a spooky and creepy (but also interesting) podcast to listen to, look no furthe...

Another week down and we're getting closer and closer to race day!  I'm not going to lie- these past two weeks have not been great.  I think the weather constantly changing (cold and crisp one day and humid and hot the next) is messing with me, and I've been feeling sick and worn down.  So- this week I didn't have the best workouts- minus my speed workout!- but, I got it done and we're officially in the taper!  Here's a look at my week- Monday 5 miles / 9:39 pace After work I headed to the park to get in an easy run.  The weather was perfect and the entire run felt great! Tuesday 6 miles / 8:51 pace I met up with Jessie to get this workout done before work.  The plan was 1 mile warm up, then 4 miles with each getting faster (starting at goal half marathon pace + 20 seconds and finishing with 10 seconds under goal pace) and 1 mile cool down.  Even though our mile warm up felt really awful and stiff, we ended up hitting our g...

I want to start out this post on a bit of a serious note.  A lot of really bad, awful stuff happened this month in the world.  It seems like every day (pretty much this entire year) the news is full of horrible events that have happened, both natural and man-made, and it just makes me feel a sense of fear and helplessness.  I'm lucky to have been able to stay out of danger and have all of my loved ones stay safe as well, but I know a lot of other people (maybe even some of you reading) aren't as lucky.  Even if I don't talk about it on social media every time something happens, you're all in my heart and prayers, and if there's anything that I can do to help out, please  contact me. One thing that this year has taught me is that life is uncertain and you never know what's going to happen when you wake up in the morning.  With that in mind, I'm trying to (as cheesy as it sounds) live life to the fullest, not take things for granted, and let the small stuff...