Gretch Runs

I'm a little late with my post this month- to be honestly I've been so sucked in with the Olympics lately that everything else has kind of gone out the window! I got really into rugby last week, and now this week it's all about track and field, the finals for team sports (soccer and volleyball and basketball). I also really liked kayak cross- if I could see myself competing in any Olympic sport it would probably be that one! In August I have some exciting plans that I can't wait to share in next month's recap, as well as another sprint tri to prepare for my big Olympic distance tri in October. It's going to be a busy month! But for now, let's recap my goals. To be honest, there wasn't a lot of movement, but I'm hoping to change that this month. Fitness ANNUAL GOAL: Try a new class each month.  This month I tried out Kick and Burn at my local gym. It was a kick boxing class and was pretty tough and left me really sore afterwards. I also tried out a pr...

And just like that...half of the year is over! It's hard to believe we're already in July, but at the same time this has been such a busy year full of tons of fun adventures and changes in my life that it also feels like it's been the longest year ever. I just got back from a whirlwind trip to California to help crew and pace a friend that was doing the Western States 100 mile race (so much fun!). Now I'm back to recap the first 6 months of the year and check in on my goals. Let's go! Fitness Run a trail race.  I guess I can technically check this one off- while I was in California I entered in a fun race that started at base camp in Olympic Valley (where the 1960 winter Olympics were held) and finished 1,800 feet higher at High Camp. It was a really tough but fun run/hike and had the most gorgeous views! I'm also entered in an actual trail race in October so I'll definitely check this off later this year. International triathlon.  I completed a sprint tri i...

I'm back today to share some of my favorites from my recent trip to Argentina! It was my first time in South America (and first time in the southern hemisphere) and it completely blew me away. Usually when I'm recapping trips I'll have separate posts for each city, but we went to so many places that I would never finish it up (ahem..still working on my posts from Slovenia almost a year ago...) so instead- I'll share my favorites from each city in one post. Buenos Aires Restaurant : Our very last meal of the entire trip was at Sacro, which is an entirely vegan restaurant in Palermo. It was more of a fine dining type of place, but the prices were very reasonable and everything was incredible. Dan and I got a few small plates to share and everything was so delicious! Activity : Tango show. This was high on my list of things to do in Argentina since the Argentine Tango is one of my favorite dance styles, and luckily we got to go our very first night in the country. We ended...

 Hello! Last month I mentioned that I've been super busy and haven't had time to come on here recently, and that definitely did not let up in April. We started the month in Dallas- we visited the city to see the solar eclipse in the path of totality (pun not intended, but TOTALLY worth the trip- it was an amazing experience) and also got to visit a new baseball stadium, see the musical Chicago, and visit the JFK points of interest.  The following weekend, I sold at my second vendor market (at Edit Brewing), then went to Asheville for a friend's bachelorette party. It was so much fun- we did a pub crawl/ghost tour, then a scavenger hunt where each stop had a fun activity (beer tasting, wine tasting, painting ceramics, hot sauce challenge, library book search, and chocolate truffle tasting). Then, the next weekend two of my friends from Pittsburgh came to stay with us which was a blast! We just got back from a camping trip at the Outer Banks, so I'm just kind of exhausted...

I mentioned the other day that life has been a bit crazy lately with travel, and that was definitely the theme of the first quarter of the year. One good that came from that was that I read a ton- a lot of audiobooks while I was traveling, or reading a physical book when I had a few moments and just wanted to relax. So far, I've ready 25 books (which is perfectly on target for my goal of 100 books this year). I wanted to share a quick one-sentence review of everything I read, breaking it down to Love It, Like It, Meh, and Skip It!  If you've loved anything from this year so far, please let me know! Love It Mr. Wrong Number by Lynn Painter - Very cute love story of a person who texts the wrong number by mistake and starts to develop feelings, but then it turns out to be someone he knows in real life. The Storyteller by Dave Grohl - Make sure to listen to this to get the full experience, but finally found a memoir where someone is just a good person who appreciates all that fame ...

It’s been a MINUTE since I’ve been here- February and March were both such crazy months that I feel like I haven’t even had a minute to myself, let alone to do anything extra! February in particular was insane- I had 2 trips to Pittsburgh for work, also went to Virginia to teach my first crochet class (!), and went on vacation to Argentina (!!). Much more to share about that trip, but for now let’s just get caught up on my goals! I’ll give updates for both months and just share the updates for goals I’m crossing off, so let’s get right into it.   Fitness   Day Hike.  I’ll talk more about this in my trip recap, but we did a ton of hiking while we were in Patagonia, and one of them was a full day hike. Definitely counting that for this goal! ANNUAL GOAL: Try a new class each month.  In February I went to my friend Erica’s treadX class at Flow Corps. This was such a fun but hard class- the class is divided into treadmill and pilates/strength. I was so tired at the end b...

January was such a busy month- not only did I pack my schedule full of social activities (3 book club meetings; hosted a "board" party, a progressive dinner party with my neighbors, dry January non-alcoholic beer taste test, a movie night, and a game night; brewery yoga; Bunco holiday party) but I also had 3 releases for work that made me work nights and weekends, as well as a new project that made me travel in to Pittsburgh for a week! To say it was hectic is an understatement, and February is going to be even more busy! One of the highlights of my month that I talked about above was a neighborhood progressive dinner party. This was an idea a friend posted about and I shared with my neighbors a year ago- we finally made it happen! The way we made it work was that each course of the dinner was hosted at a different person's house. We started with cocktail hour at Wanda's house, then moved to my house for appetizers, went next door to AL's for the main course, then...

We are officially one week into the new year, and today I’ll be sharing my goals! This is probably more exciting to me than any other post that I create in a year. I absolutely love making goals for myself (in fact, every week I sit down and make a  list for the week and love to check each item off). This year I decided to do something different than usual. I keep seeing people doing 24 for 2024 lists since it’s such a nice and even number and breaks down to 2 per month, so that’s what I decided to base my goals on this year. I broke them down into four different areas, and tried to make 5 regular goals for each area as well as one year-long goal. Let’s get into the goals!   Fitness Run a trail race. I love to run trails and don’t get out nearly enough, so my goal this year is to make that happen. One way to force myself is by signing up for a trail race (hopefully more than one!). I already found a half marathon in May, so that will be my goal. I’m also looking for a few oth...

Can you believe it's the end of the year? In some ways this felt like the fastest year ever, and in other ways it dragged. I'm looking forward to 2024 for a number of reasons (and will share some of my goals and plans for the year in another post) but for now I'm excited to recap 2023! I'll be sharing how my goals went, as well as some highlights and favorites. Annual Goals Korean Vegan Cookbook I started this really well at the start of the year, and it kind of trailed off towards the end. Going back into the office, working on house projects, and general winter laziness made me get way worse at meal planning, so I didn't finish up this goal. But- I did try a ton of new recipes from this cookbook and I'm excited to keep trying it when I get back into the groove of meal planning! My favorite recipe that I tried was the Curried Tteokbokki skewers from June  - they were so flavorful and unlike anything I've ever made or tried before. Temperature blanket This w...