Gretch Runs

Happy last Monday of 2020! The past few weeks and months have felt so fast lately- I've heard that when you don't have anything special or unique to look forward to and have the same routine days just blend together and seem to go by really quickly. That's definitely happening to me, but "celebrating" Christmas this week with Dan was a bright spot. Now I have the week off and I'm looking forward to disconnecting and recharging. Here's what my workouts looked like this week- Monday 30 min Holiday Run with Matty If you remember back during Halloween , Matty was "injured" and was replaced with Mara Thonner for a very fun run. Well, disaster struck again and Matty was sent some bad egg nog, and Mara filled in again! This class was once again a blast..I almost want to petition to make Mara a full time instructor. She's amazing! 15 min Intro to Pilates with Aditi There's a flash challenge to complete three of the new Pilates classes in ten days...

Hi everyone! Today I have a delicious post to share- a wrap up and final thoughts on my experience baking all of the technical bakes from this season of Great British Bake Off. I finished the final two bakes last week, and it's been such a fun challenge for me! I learned so much during this little experiment and I'm a little sad that it's over. Maybe I'll start over with a new season, or just wait for the next one to start! Since I'm a little behind on sharing the bakes, I'll summarize the past few first, then go into my wrap up. Week 8 - Dessert Week The technical challenge for this week was to make Sussex Pond Puddings, which are basically whole lemons and butter wrapped up in suet pastry and steamed to cook. I decided to forego this for a few reasons- everyone online said that it was disgusting and I didn't want to waste food, and I wasn't able to track down suet. Plus, I don't have any steaming equipment! Instead of making this, I went for the Si...

Good morning and happy Monday everyone! Last week we got our first BIG snowstorm of the year, and on days like that, I really appreciate being able to stay home and not trek into work! I could just enjoy the beauty from afar without having to slip around or be frozen. Here's a look at what I did this week- Monday 30 min Movie Buff Ride: Holiday Special with Kendall I took Kendall's first Movie Buff ride around Halloween, and this was just as fun. Lots of holiday movie music and I felt like I was in the story the whole time. It was a great mid-day break for a workout! 30 min Holiday Pop Yoga Flow with Kristin I thought this class would be really fun, but I could barely hear to music during it! Otherwise this was a nice class with some of the traditional moves renamed for the holidays. I always like Kristin's class and this was another winner. Tuesday 20 min HIIT Run with Adrian I'm SO excited because Adrian just started adding Outdoor Runs! As much as I like downloading ...

Hi everyone! Today I have a fun post to share- my best purchases of 2020. I usually try to do some kind of roundup like this at the end of every year, and found some fun categories to use from the Beautiful Mess podcast (you can see all of their picks here !). I hope you enjoy seeing some of the random purchases I made this year- some directly caused by COVID and some before that was even a thought in my mind! PS- if you want to see my best purchases from 2019 you can find that post here . Something that felt like a major upgrade Pots and Pans Lately I've been feeling like I'm getting to that point in my life where I'm upgrading things that I got back in college for "adult" versions. A year or two ago I threw out all my old knives to get nice Wusthof ones, and this year I got rid of my pots and pans (which were probably really unsafe to use since they were chipped and scratched up). I decided on this  set after some research mostly because it had all the sizes I n...

Good morning everyone! I'm feeling very festive today- I took a bunch of holiday classes this week and also baked a bunch of holiday treats this weekend. Dan also surprised me with a live (virtual) concert and sushi over the weekend- it was a beautiful show ( this one if you're interested in watching as well!) and nice to have something special to look forward to. I hope you're all finding little ways to find joy this season! Here's a look at all my workouts this week, both the festive and regular! Monday 30 min Holiday Yoga with Aditi Such a fun and sweet class to kick off the week! There were lots of backbends in this and it was just challenging enough to keep it interesting without being too difficult. Really fun and I also loved the cheerful music. 60 min Pop Bike Bootcamp with Jess This was probably my favorite workout that I've done with Peloton (almost 600 workouts in!). Even though this was tough, the strength moves were so unique- challenging but almost fu...

Good morning and happy Monday to everyone! This week I decided to try something new- I came to the realization that the thing I miss about racing isn't the actual race itself, but having a structured plan to follow. So, this week I brought out an old planner and sat down to write out a workout plan for December. I wanted to get in a combination of running, spinning, boot camps, yoga, and strength (along with all of the fun holiday workouts coming up on Peloton), and I think I got the balance just right. This was my first week following that "plan" and I did every workout! Here's how it went- Monday 45 min Full Body Bike Bootcamp with Jess This was my first live bike boot and it was really fun and a great workout! There were two bike sections with 10 intervals in each, and then two strength sections. The very last section was 10 minutes long and was an EMOM (every minute on the minute) - that just blasted every part of your body. I was so tired during it and almost sto...

TGIF! It's been a few months since I've shared some book reviews, and most of that is because I got into a bit of a funk. Nothing was really clicking with me so I just took a little break (you can see some of the duds at the end of this post, as well as the ones that pulled me out of my slump). Well- in November I officially got back in the groove and read some GREAT books! I hope you pick up some good suggestions, and let me know what you're reading in the comments. Happy reading!   The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen When you read this book, you will make many assumptions. You will assume you are reading about a jealous ex-wife. You will assume she is obsessed with her replacement – a beautiful, younger woman who is about to marry the man they both love. You will assume you know the anatomy of this tangled love triangle. Assume nothing. Twisted and deliciously chilling, Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen's The Wife Between Us exposes the secret c...