Gretch Runs

Can you all believe it's DECEMBER?  I still remember sitting down at the beginning of the year, listing out all of my goals and resolutions for the year.  I'll have to find that and see if I was successful at all  (who knows!).  The end of the year is going to be super busy with some fun stuff coming up that I can't wait to talk about, so today's post will be short and sweet! Make sure you join the monthly linkup with  Kristen and me by linking up below! Now let's see what's new with me! Stay Active .  I started training for another marathon this month, so I've definitely been really active.  The first few weeks have been great, with a little sidelining because of travel and holidays.  I figure that it's better to get these bad weeks out of the way earlier, and really nail the training at the end! This month I also tried out Class Pass for the first time.  I wrote all about it here , but the TL;DR version is that I love it and...

Happy Holidays!  This week was definitely a challenge, since I left on Wednesday to visit family for Thanksgiving.  I managed to get in my runs (even if they felt sluggish and harder than last week).  I know I'll have weeks like that, so I'm proud of myself for prioritizing my training and not skipping! Here's a look at my training this week: linking up with  Steff ,  Holly  and  Tricia ! Monday Spin at CycleBar / 1 hour I went to a class at a local spin studio with Class Pass and loved it!  I had such a great full-body workout and had a blast.  One thing that's great about this studio is that stats are emailed after the class so you know exactly how well you did.  I ended up getting 7th place in the class I took (out of about 20 people) so I was pretty happy with that! Tuesday 3 miles / 9:48 pace This was my first morning run with all of the Christmas lights on downtown!  It was so pretty and I had a g...

Hi everyone!  Have you heard of Class Pass before?  To put it simply, it's a membership program that lets you try out boutique fitness classes all over your city for one monthly price.  It's a great way to try out fun new classes without any commitment or hefty prices that are usually associated with these specialized workouts.  (In fact, just out of curiosity I looked up how much individual classes that I tried this month would be if I didn't have Class Pass, and I ended up saving $62!!) Class Pass has been around for a while in big cities, and this year they came to Pittsburgh!  I immediately jumped on their website and got a "medium" plan, which is 5 classes per month for $30 (this price varies per city).  There's also a small plan which is 3 classes for $20, or 10 classes for $60.  Once you use up all of your classes, you can purchase individual classes! I wanted to try out a wide range of classes, so I went to 5 different studios around...

And we're back!  I absolutely love training for races, so I'm excited to kick off a new training cycle (ps- if you want to hear more about the race I'm doing next and why I picked it, read this post!).  This was a great week, filled with some new cross training and fantastic workouts.  Even with some less-than-ideal weather, I was able to fit in all of my runs!  I know I'm not the only person that feels like a rockstar when I'm outside running in a downpour or on a snowy blowy day.  That counts as double mileage, right? As always, here's a look at my week in training!  I liked my graphic so much from Buffalo Creek, so I decided to keep it for this cycle as well!  Maybe it's good luck, since I got a big PR! linking up with Steff , Holly and Tricia ! Monday Body Pump / 1 hour This was my fourth ClassPass class for the month!  I'm working on a full post about all the classes that I tried and what I thought, but this one was a g...

Happy Friday!  This was such a crazy week and I feel like I've been on the go every day!  I'm definitely hoping to catch up on some sleep this weekend, but also have a few fun plans, including an early Thanksgiving dinner, brunch with friends, a Penn State game, and my first long run of marathon training! I hope you all have a great weekend and I'll talk to you on Monday! linking up with  Erika ,  Heather , and  Friday   Five   Song Kelly Clarkson - Love So Soft Kelly Clarkson just came out with her newest album and it's so amazing.  She has (in my opinion) one of the best voices out there, and I love the new style she's evolved into lately.  Love So Soft is the first single to come out and I can't stop listening to it.  I just listened to an interview Kelly did on Anna Faris's podcast, and now I'm even more in love with her.  She seems so cool and down to earth, even though she's incredibly talented.  Lov...

I have a very special guest today on the blog- my husband Dan! This year he started a new job where he gets to travel a ton (and we're talking cool places like San Diego, Charleston, HAWAII...). He's already picked up some great habits on staying healthy while he's out and wanted to share them with all of you! Even if you don't travel for your job, I know this is a busy time of year with visiting family and friends, so I hope you can all learn something new. Feel free to leave your own tips or hacks in the comments- Dan wants to hear them all! Enjoy :) Hi everyone! Sorry, it’s been awhile since my last guest post. Unfortunately I haven’t done too much running this year, but I do have some healthy travel tips to share since I started traveling a little more for work. I am by no means an expert, but I wanted to share with you some things I’ve learned and especially invite you to share with me some tips of your own! Some of my advice is health-based and some is fi...

Well everyone, I decided that I'm going to train for another marathon this winter.  The saying is that third time's a charm and I'm hoping that's the case!  Either that or I've actually gone crazy and in a few months I'll be back here crying that my body is not made for marathons.  Only one way to find out! If you've followed me the last two years, you would have seen the ups and downs of my marathon training.  I was training for the Gettysburg Marathon both years, and failed miserably both times.  Let's take a quick trip down memory lane... First time (in 2016), I decided it was a good idea to train for a marathon while I was house hunting, changing jobs, and planning my wedding .  I decided to DNS the marathon and was happy with my decision. slightly better than running a marathon Fast forward to the next year (2017) and training was going great!  I was killing all of my runs and feeling strong....then I got injured.  Took some time ...