Gretch Runs

Happy Monday everyone!  Today I'm excited to share my first race recap of the year.  On Saturday, I ran in the Spring Thaw race at North Park.   This is an interesting race- there are three distances available (10, 15 and 20 miles) which equals 2, 3 or 4 laps around North Park.  Everyone is scored on the 10 mile distance, but you can decide on the day of the race which distance you're going to run.  I love this, because some times you're having a great day and other times you're not feeling it- so you can change your distance with no penalty or fee!  Love it.  There's also some pretty good swag- everyone who completes at least 10 miles gets a hat and medal.  15 milers also get a pair of gloves, and 20 milers get all of that and a neck warmer.  Here's what I got: I decided to run the 15 miles (3 laps) and test my marathon race pace.  My goal was to run a 3-mile warm-up, 15 miles with at least 10 miles at MRP (9:04) for a total of 18 miles.  My plan

Hi everyone!  Did you all have a good week?  I had a really busy and stressful one, but hopefully it will all be worth it!  I'll share more of what's going on lately in my " What's New With You " link-up on Thursday- make sure you join Kristen and me!  For now, I'm going to share my favorites from the week.  I hope you all have a great weekend and I'll see ya on Monday! Linking up with  Mar ,  Cynthia  and  Court  as well as  Heather, Momfessionals, Happy Fit Mama     Blog Relaunches It seems like this month was the month of blog relaunches.  There have been a lot of blogs come and go throughout the past few years, and I was so excited when I saw three of my favorites come back recently.   Into- Mind If you're at all into the minimal trend, then you've definitely heard of this blog.  This is such a great resource for getting started, and has lots of informative worksheets and books. Un-Fancy Most people jumped in on the

Hi everyone!  Today I'm going to be sharing my cleaning schedule with you all that I created as part of my annual goals .  In the past, I've been a pretty messy, sloppy person (I'm guessing my mom is laughing out loud, thinking that's the understatement of the century).  I like to be organized, but I tend to be lazy about actually putting stuff away and keeping things cleaned. This year, I really wanted to change that.  I love how my apartment looks when it's all clean, and I really believe that a clean space makes you happier and feel more productive.  I decided to put together a cleaning schedule to keep myself accountable for cleaning, which I'm sharing today!  I have my tasks divided into two categories- daily tasks and weekly tasks.  I'll explain what each of those are below, and tell you (by room) what falls into each category.  I'm also linking up to some of my favorite products, and I would love to hear some of your suggestions as well! Keep

Hi everyone!  I'm here today to share three reviews of new clothes that I got from Athleta.  Now that my marathon training is halfway done, I wanted to treat myself and replace some of my over-loved and worn out winter clothes.  (P.S. this doesn't break my spending freeze since I have permission to buy running gear!) I'm also big into setting goals and treating yourself when you hit them.  Going into this training cycle, I knew my biggest obstacle for me would be long runs.  They've always been a big mental struggle for me, so I promised myself that if I hit all of those long runs at the half way point, I could get some goodies. It just so happened that the halfway point coincided with a big sale at Athleta!  The items that I bought were on clearance, with an additional 20% off.  I've never bought anything from Athleta but heard great things, so I was excited to try out some of their clothes!  I originally was planning on getting a new pair of my Lululemon Toas

It's hard to believe, but I'm already at the halfway point of my marathon training!  This is week eight on my schedule, which means I have eight weeks to go!  I wanted to check in today to share how my training is going, including a recap of my mileage and workouts, what's working, and what needs to change in the second half. Recap of Mileage Total Miles : 184.95 Long Runs : 79 miles, ranging from 5 to 17 miles.  Average pace 9:22 My long runs were all on the river trail or at North Park. Easy Runs : 72.7 miles, ranging from 3 to 6.2 miles My easy runs are all over the place- Shadyside, Squirrel Hill, Roads, Trails, Treadmills - basically anywhere and everywhere! Speed Workouts : 33.25 miles, ranging from 4.5 to 6.75 miles Some of the speed workouts that I did include: - Mile repeats (average pace of 8:00) - Tempo runs (average pace of 8:10) - Marathon pace runs (average pace of 9:00) - Ladder workouts (average pace of 6:51) Cross Tr

These weeks are just flying by now!  I can't believe that I'm already sharing another weekly update on my training.  This was another good week for me- I feel like I have a down week then a really good week.  Does any one else's training go like that? I was so happy that Pittsburgh had some nice, spring-like weather this week so most of my runs were outside.  Let's take a look at my training, and make sure you stick around for the end of the post for an exciting giveaway! monday Yoga I did some light stretches, not following any specific video or flow but just going through some moves that felt good.  I followed a lot of the stretches that I shared in my post about favorite poses! tuesday 4 miles This was a very, very gross run.  There was tons of slushy snow and ice, so I basically just slogged it out for four miles.  Not a great run but I got it done. wednesday 6.75 miles / 57:30 / 8:31 pace Sidewalks were even worse (slushy roads

Hi everyone!  I'm stopping by quickly today to share my Top Five Favorites for the week.  This has been a crazy  week, so it's going to be a short and sweet post.  I hope that you enjoy, and I promise to talk more next week! Beets Blu Paper Tag I was really excited when Beets Blu contacted me about trying out one of their new products- a wireless key finder!  I can't tell you how many times a day I misplace my keys or my cell phone.  Dan's become so accustomed to this, that whenever I come into the living room and start moving stuff around he asks "what did you lose now..". Enter- the Paper Tag .  This tiny little device does a ton: Keep track of your valuables (keys, wallets, suitcase, laptop bag, backpack - whatever is tagged) Detect the proximity of lost or forgotten items wirelessly Alert you when your item shifts outside of a connection range (about 15 feet/5 meters) Send sounds and enable an LED light to alert you I've had t

I'm convinced that there are three types of runners- those who listen to podcasts on runs, those who listen to music on runs, and the very few who somehow make it through runs with no sound but the stomping of feet, and the rise and fall of the breath.  I personally fall into the first group.  To me, there's nothing better than catching up on my favorite podcasts while getting in my workout. I think that podcasts became popular thanks to Serial coming out last year, and now everyone is jumping on the bandwagon.  While I liked season 1, I've found other podcasts out there that I enjoy even more.  I think podcasts are the perfect way to get your mind of your body while you're running, and they really help the miles fly by!  I like how I can get lost in a new story, learn something new, or just be entertained. Today I'll be sharing some of my favorite podcasts.  I'm always adding new ones to my list, so this is ever evolving!  If you have any suggestions I w