Gretch Runs

Hello from my house! I am on day three of mandated work from home because of COVID-19. I know I'm not the only one- it seems like every day a new friend in cities across the country are also being told to stay home for the foreseeable future. We're in unprecedented times with scary and conflicting news coming out every day. I'm trying to stay calm about it and finding that educating myself on the facts (instead of reading into the media hysteria) is helping a lot!  Back to working from home- while this can seem like a nice break from the office for those of us lucky enough to be able to do our jobs remotely, it can start to get difficult to concentrate or have the same productivity as being in the office. So, I thought I would share some tips on what's worked for me! I generally work remotely once a week on a normal schedule, so these are things that I've come up with to stay on task. I hope it helps, and I hope all of you (and your families) are staying healt...

In case you didn't know- I love to travel (in fact, I just got back from a trip to Mexico.  I'l be sharing more soon!).  I try to make it out of the country for vacation every year, and have managed to do just that since I graduated from college.  I've learned a lot of tricks and tips along the way, and today I'm going to be sharing some of my favorites.  These all make traveling a bit easier (and cheaper), and I'm excited to share them all with you!  I'm always looking for ways to make traveling easier, so I would love to hear your tips in the comments below as well :) Wash your sheets and make your bed before you go It might seem weird or pointless to do your laundry before you leave, but trust me- there is no better feeling than falling asleep in your own bed after a trip.  What makes it even better is having fresh sheets and blankets!  I always make sure to wash all of my bedding and towels before I go, just so it's one less thing I have ...

Who doesn't like to save money?  It seems like it's everyone's New Year's Resolution every year to start saving more money.  It seems easy enough, but without making big lifestyle changes it can seem impossible and very intimidating! For the past few years, I've started to make small adjustments in my life that don't seem to make a difference at first, but overtime can really save money.  I hope some of these tips will help all of you, and I hope you'll share more tips with me! Buy in Bulk A few months ago, I started to buy all of my nonperishable items in bulk and realized how much money I was saving.  I got a Sam's Club membership on Groupon, and every time we went I would calculate what the unit price was on common items we bought, and compare it to what we spent at regular stores.  Some items are WAY cheaper at a club (juice, tortilla wraps, canned foods, chips, and garbage bags are some of the biggest savings I've found).  Luckily at our ...

I can't believe it, but it's less than a week until my next half marathon.  It seems like just yesterday that I crossed the finish line at Seawheeze , and just last week that I was running last year's Towpath Half !  I'm so excited to be doing it again, and I'm starting to prep for race day. I've been running and racing since I was 8 years old, so I consider myself somewhat of a race day pro.  While I'll never be a REAL pro runner, I have my routine down pat.  Today I'm going to be sharing my tried and true tips (try saying that 10 times fast) for having the best race morning.  Be sure to share your best tips in the comments! Listen to a podcast for the first half On race day, the adrenaline is pumping, your legs are fresh, there's so much excitement, and inevitably you start out too fast and your entire race plan is out the window.  This happened to me all the time, until I made a small tweak and switched to a podcast for the first half of m...

Hi everyone!  If you remember last month, one of my goals was to cut down my grocery bill.  I ended up crushing my goal of spending less than $200 (shopping for two people), and cut my bill by over half! Today I wanted to share some tips and tricks that helped me save so much money, along with some easy recipes that I used and some resources.  I hope you find this helpful, and be sure to share your tips in the comments! TIP : Check weekly specials Every week, I get emails and snail mail with all of the specials at local grocery stores.  For some reason, I always ignored these in the past.  Huge mistake!  Now, I use these ads as a basis for my meal planning.  As soon as they come in, I'll go through and see what the local deals are for the week.  Then, I'll figure out what I can make using what I have on hand and what's on sale.  Not only does this help me try out new products, but it also saves me a ton of money! WEBSI...

Today I'm going to be talking about money!  Specifically- how to save it.  If you'll remember, a few months ago I did a post on how I create a budget (if you haven't seen that post click here to check it out!) This is sort of a follow-up on that post, where I'm going to talk about different ways to cut expenses and generally spend less money.  These are the tips that work for me (or things that I'm testing out), but I would love to hear how YOU save money! Lower your Data Plan This is actually a new trick that I'm trying out (so I'll let you know how it goes at the end of billing cycle!).  I decided to lower my data plan from 4 GB a month to 2GB, which saves $12 a month!  I luckily work in a building with wifi and have wifi at home, so I figured out that I was using up a lot of data and spending a ton of money for no reason!  In order to use less data, I came up with a few tips: - Use "airplane mode" when you're in an area with...

Yesterday, I went for my first run since my half marathon.  That means I went 7 full days without running a single step.  For someone that love running, has identified as being a "runner" for 2/3 of her life, and has a blog named Gretch RUNS- that is a really long time. During my run, I tried to think of the last time that I took a full week off of running, and I couldn't come up with a date.  I usually recover really quickly from races and feel better if I start to run and move, so I typically only take a day or two off.  For some reason, after the Towpath Half I didn't start back right away.  The break was not really needed (I actually felt great the very next day) and I didn't feel burnt out at all, but I just decided to not run. I came up with some reasons why taking this break was a great idea on my run (don't we all get the best brainstorming sessions while running?) and wanted to share them with you.  Please leave your top reasons for taking a br...

Hi everyone!  I know that I've talked about my love of running on trails over and over on this blog, and I figured it's finally time to devote an entire post to the topic!  I think that trail running is one of the best ways to get a fantastic workout, clear your mind, and ease your worries.  There are a few things to be cautious of before taking your first trail run, and I hope my tips can help out!  Please share any other tips you have in the comments! Safety First Running on trails can be really exciting and fun, but also a bit more dangerous than running on a smooth road.  To be safe, I either take one ear bud out while running or shut off my music completely.  It can be harder to see people coming at you, or bikes approaching, so I always like to be as alert as possible. I also bring along pepper spray (you can order small cans with a hand strap on Amazon) in case I'm approached by either a wild animal or wild person!...

Hi everyone!  Today I thought it would be fun to share my playlist that I listened to during my 10k this weekend.  I also wanted to give some tips for having back to back races - I ran a 5k, and then 15 minutes later ran a 10k.  This is becoming more and more popular, so I just wanted to share a few tips on what worked (and didn't work) for me! Let's get it started with some music.  I shared another playlist a while ago - my easy run mix.  Check it out here !  Once again, all of the songs in this list are available on Amazon music, so you can download and listen for free if you have Amazon Prime!  I also put the list on Spotify if you'd rather listen there . I like starting my playlists off with a slower song so I don't start off too fast, then slowly pick up the tempo towards the middle.  I like including different genres of music (this goes from country to rap to Latin!) to keep things interesting. Now, let's get into some tips ...

Hi everyone!  Today, I decided to join in the Tuesdays on the Run linkup with Janelle, Patty,   Erika and April because it's a topic I have a lot of experience with: time management.  I've learned a lot about what to do (and what not to do).  I'll be sharing my top 6 tips for staying organized and fitting in your workouts even with the busiest week.  I hope that my past mistakes will help you avoid some of the same pitfalls!  If you have any good time management tips, please share below, and make sure to check out everyone linking up to see more tips! 1.  Be organized. The most important (and easiest) way to be in control of your training schedule and  improve time management is to be organized.  This might mean downloading an app for your phone, getting a wall calendar, or purchasing a planner.  I've tried all of these, and a planner works the best for me. I recently bought a planner from a shop on Etsy , and...