Running Reflection: Not Even Close.

Sunday.

Easter Sunday.

Usually the day I sit down and revisit my workout calendar, checking pace, mileage, and whether or not I'm really giving training my all. I look forward to the process, love receiving feedback, and enjoy checking out similar posts by others. Celebrating our own goals, the setting of them, meeting of them, or total obliteration of them, is one of life's greatest joys.

This week, I did not meet my goals.

Not a one.

Not even close.

Remember back when I mentioned tweaking my lumbar spine right before running the Seahawks 12k? In my head I constantly play a mantra of, "It'll get better on its own. It'll be fine in a few days." This is how I deal with most pains, and for the most part, that's really what happens. I heal. I recover. I press on.

Not this time.

This week has been one where I've had to accept that I probably should not be running when I have no idea what is causing this consistent pain. I've been reading Twitter feeds on the Boston Marathon expo, wanting to join the running community in my own way by running along the beach on my family's Easter vacation... and didn't. I could have. I would've felt better emotionally if I had. But I didn't.

Instead, I:

• Visited my new dietitian (my normal one is on maternity leave) to come up with a new diet/exercise plan since I've been 7-8 pounds above my norm for the past two months.

• Tried on my new ProCompression marathon socks! I won these during a #bibchat hosted by BibRave and they're stunning (and super comfy). I wore them when I went...

• Clam digging! Every year, my family drives to the Long Beach Peninsula in Washington for Easter Weekend. Welcome to Washington beaches: rainy, cold, and gray. We love it! One traditional part of our weekend is waking up super early, piling on rain gear, boots, and gloves, and digging clams for chowder. Obviously it's a blast, despite the sand blasting your face. :)

• Dyed Easter eggs. A friend asked me today if I didn't think I was too old to dye Easter eggs. Is there such a thing as being too old to turn your fingers colors while you experiment with mixing hues?

• Baked these darling little orange cream cupcakes.

It was a wonderful weekend, a recuperative two days with family on a windy, cold beach. I read, I walked, I visited the most odd little curios store around (Marsh's Free Museum). I didn't run.

While I'm hurting and upset that I can't reach my goals, this week, and while I'm incredibly excited about my doctor's appointment this Friday, I can still say that I spent my time well.

Goals for Next Week:

1. Try out my new eating plan, a la miss new dietitian. COMMIT to it. Be okay with being a little hungry every once in a while.
2. Take a class at the gym (yoga? non-core weights?). Does anyone have any ideas for things that won't irritate my lumbar spine?
3. Work on accepting that this week is a week of healing.

What has been the best way you have coped with an unexpected injury while training? Do you have any advice to help me out with my goals?