Gretch Runs

Hello! Does this thing even work anymore? It's been a very long time since my last post, and that's mostly because my last few months have been very busy. Between a lot of travel, keeping up a busy social calendar, exercising, and working crazy hours, I kind of let everything else go by the wayside. But- I'm excited to be back and hopefully will post more regularly in 2025! In the meantime, here are a few highlights from the end of 2024 as well as a few favorites from the year. - I got to see Earth Wind and Fire in concert with Chicago! They're one of my favorite bands so I was really excited to see them. This was also my first concert at Coastal Credit Union, which is a really cool outdoor concert space in Raleigh. I also saw Gerald Albright at the Raleigh Improv and that was a really fun experience. - I did another sprint triathlon and placed in my age group for the first time. I did the same race last year and took about 10 minutes off my total time which I'm rea...

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 ...