Gretch Runs

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!...

Happy Tuesday everyone!  I'm happy to be joining the Tuesdays on the Run Linkup with  Patty ,  Erika and April .  Today's topic is a fun one: Best Race I've Run.  I'm going to be switching it up a bit and writing about the hardest, craziest, most fun race I've ever done : the (half) Marathon on the Mountain in Seven Springs. First of all, I love running races and traveling.  Seeing new areas and visiting new states is part of the fun of running for me. Sometimes, though, races can get monotonous and blend in to eachother.  They're all pretty similar: expo the day before, large and excited crowds, water stops, medal at the end.  I'm not able to remember details from every race I've done (I don't even keep track of how many I've done), but the Marathon on the Mountain will always stick out in my mind. Here are the reasons why it was my best race: 1.  Marathon on the MOUNTAIN is completely accurate .  The course runs up the ski sl...

Happy Friday to everyone!  As I keep saying, this week was insane and I am so happy that it's over.  I have three more performances of the musical, then I can finally take a rest.  Playing this much makes me miss college when I played in the marching band at Penn State!  I will be happy to relax after work, though, and not have to rush to practice. As usual,  I'm linking up with  Cynthia ,  Courtney and  Mar  on their Friday Five Linkup  as well as  Clare ,  Kate  and  Heather! !   The topic for today was Spring, which was very vague.  I decided to talk about my five favorite things about springtime! 1. Trail running.  I mentioned this a bit in my Pittsburgh Running Routes post , but I absolutely love trail running.  I grew up running at Riverview Park, and ran cross country in middle and high school, so I feel really comfortable on trails.  I love how you never know what to e...

Hi everyone and Happy Thursday! Today's post is inspired by a fellow Pittsburgh runner and blogger who asked me where I liked to run in Pittsburgh.  I grew up on the Northside, moved downtown for a few years, and now live in the East End, so I've run in a variety of places.  Here a few of my favorite routes, along with directions and some tips for each place.  I hope this is helpful if you're either visiting Pittsburgh, or looking for a new place to run.  Enjoy! (P.S. this is my first time creating maps and images, so if they're hard to read or you have suggestions on how to improve PLEASE let me know!) Northside 1.   Riverview Park- 3.5 miles .  Pittsburgh has 4 city parks, and Riverview is the one I'm most familiar with.  This park has tons of trails as well as a 2-mile loop that is paved and has a walk/run lane.  This is one of the more secluded parks, so you never have to worry about finding a parking space.  I grew up run...

You have to wonder at times what you're doing out there. Over the years, I've given myself a thousand reasons to keep running, but it always comes back to where it started. It comes down to self-satisfaction and a sense of achievement. - PRE 7/27 Workout: 4 miles on trails at Riverview 7/28 Workout: 30 minute stationary bike 1 hour strength 20 minute core 7/30 Workout: 6.75 miles at North Park 57:05, 8:30/mile 7/31 Workout: Flag football game with the interns 4 hours of walking at the zoo: some elephants! look at the little baby :) a jellyfish, taken by another intern (Dan Koller, great pic!) we ran into a peacock that was just walking around the zoo So, I didn't hit my target as far as runs go, but I did have EXCELLENT runs this week! I felt absolutely amazing during my long run at North Park, and my endurance is definitely improving. This weekend I'm hoping to have a run of over 7 miles, and keep picking up a half mile every weekend. Thanks for reading! Pittsburgh M...

It's at the borders of pain and suffering that the men are separated from the boys . Emil Zatopek I just found that quote, and it could not explain my weekend better! I had two terrific workouts and am in absolute pain this morning (which is a good thing to me!) On Saturday, I biked for 30 minutes at the maximum resistance on my very old stationary bike, then increased my weight on about half of the exercises I did, and increased repetitions on the exercises I didn't move up. Overall my body was feeling very strong, but I was really sore the next day! Sunday I went out for a run while it was in the 90's, and ran on the trails in Riverview. I decided to run without calculating my distance or pace to just relax and run for time. I ran for about an hour, and it felt terrific to just enjoy the run and not worry about pushing myself to the limit! This week I'm hoping to run 5 days and lift 3. It's almost time for vacation (Deep Creek, Maryland!) and Blue Band, so I ...

"You have to wonder at times what you're doing out there. Over the years, I've given myself a thousand reasons to keep running, but it always comes back to where it started. It comes down to self-satisfaction and a sense of achievement." After taking a few days off from training, I'm finally back to it. I had to rest up to get over a few areas that have been bothering me, but I'm now back in action and feeling better than ever. On Tuesday, I rode a stationary bike for a half hour and did a weight lifting circuit. The two moves I did for legs were lunges and leg extensions , both of which I haven't done in a while. Yesterday, I got back to Riverview Park and did an easy trail loop that was around 3 1/2 miles with rolling hills. My average mile was 8:30, so it was a decent run. The quote at the top is by one of my favorite athletes and role models- Steve Prefontaine . For those of you who don't know him, do yourself a favor and read a bit about him here...

Hello! It's been a few days since I've posted, and I've been quite busy with both training and work. After work on Tuesday, I went running at Riverview on the trails, like usual. I was expecting to go for an easy run, only one lap around the park, which is a little over 2 miles. Once I started running, though, I wanted to keep going and ended up doing 4 miles of trails. I felt really great, and stronger than I have in a while. On Wednesday, I had an intern activity after work and took that as my first day off in a week, which was a much-needed break. Yesterday, I decided to lift and had a terrific session. Here are the exercises that I did (3 sets of 10 reps per exercise, 10 pushups in between each) -military press -dumbell squats -bent over row -bench press -butterflies -calf raises -curl -skull crushers I felt absolutely wonderful and am really starting to see some results as far as my leg and arm muscles are concerned. This has definitely helped improve my speed as well ...

Hello! Happy (belated) 4 th of July to everyone! I had a fantastic weekend. It was nice to be able to relax and see some friends and meet new ones. Having a day off of work is also always nice! I was able to get in a few good-quality workouts this weekend, which I'm really happy about. On Saturday, I wasn't feeling so great, so I wanted to have an easy trail run at Riverview . Once I started though, I immediately felt better and ended up having a great run. I ran 3.58 miles all over the trails in a little under 30:00. On Sunday, I was able to go running at North Park, which is a really nice place that I like to run. There's a road going around the lake there, and it's 5 miles. The course is a bit hilly, which makes it challenging but it's a very quick run. It was an extremely hot day out, and it was a bit of a challenge to finish the run. I did the 5 miles in 41:00, which I was pretty happy about. I also lifted weights on Monday, which I haven't been doing late...

Hello! I wanted to share a link with anyone interested in starting running, for those living in/visiting Pittsburgh. We have some amazing rail trails that have been renovated cleaned up that run along all three of the rivers. There are a few different sections, and the one that I usually run on is along the Northshore and goes by both PNC Park and Heinz Field. I found a map that shows all of the trails: http://www.friendsoftheriverfront.org/misc_docs/FOR_Brochure_Map_07_REV1.pdf They're so much fun to run or walk on and offer some amazing views of the city. It always makes my runs go by much quicker, and they're relatively flat so it's not too hard of a workout. Also, yesterday for my birthday I got an amazing GPS watch made by Nike: which I'm VERY EXCITED to start using. I'll be able to track my miles, calories, average pace, and many other stats. I'll talk more about how I like it once I'm able to use it. It's been a very busy week so f...