Tuesday, October 09, 2007

Insomnia came a calling.

I have looked through the papers but nothing sparks any real interest in me, there might be more DNA queries about the McCanns, Britney's still loca, Jennifer Lopez has either swallowed a hippo whole-like the video I"m thinking of posting later- or is pregnant. According to some knob in the Guardian, fat is a feminist issue, according to the Mail women's waists are one and a half inches bigger that they used to be, according to the indo there was carnage on the roads and FF are still a shower of bloody crooks, according to the sun, the Yorkshire Ripper was a 'nice' man when he wasn't slaughtering women.
And yet, nowt.
Sigh, ennui how are ye?
Tis a sorry state of affairs not sleeping, Miss Sam can affirm it. I was awake until the stupid bird that sits on the ledge started twittering at dawn and my copy of A Brief History of Time was nowhere to hand. I had sleeping tablets but I can't take them see, because I have to run today see, and they make my legs feel sluggish, see.
I -Fatmammycat- endured a sleepless night rather than pop a pill, and all because of a marathon.

The marathon, Yes, that thing.
I tell you I am becoming obsessed.

The sad truth is that while lying awake I thought of nothing else but running, the routes I was going to take this week in training -hills and flats-, the route of the marathon, where I can gather speed, where I can fall back, I have memorised it you see. I thought about what I was going to eat, planning my meals for the week before and replanning my meal for the morning of the race itself, I need the right carbs and add some fat, but not too much fat, that might make me feel sick...How was I going to get there. Would I drive myself, get the paramour to drive? If he drove how would he know exactly when I finished? But what if I wasn't in a fit state to drive myself home?
I pondered which gel was going to suit me most, and would it really be necessary to take more than three? What about chaffing, would there be chaffing? Is vaseline as good as glide? I worried about hitting the wall. I worried about getting caught up in the atmosphere and starting too fast. I worried about my left calf muscle, I worried about my 'medically lumpy' ankle, after all I never did get a full answer as to what was wrong with it. I worried about not having run the 30k long run yet. OH I've done 27, but that's not 30 is it? I worried, oh chumlies I worried like a turkey on Christmas eve might worry if it wasn't such a stupid bird.
I was only this short of getting up and scribbling down my strategy. Plot, plot, scheme, plot.
But that would have seemed nuts. Wouldn't it?
It's the 9th of October, I have twenty days left until D-day.
Yikes.
No really.
Hella yikes.

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40 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hello, it is so hard to know what to do isn’t it, they should have a couple of classes pre marathon to give pointers and such. I have increased my healthy carbohydrate intake and it seems to have improved the form immensely. My biggest worry at the moments is the whole gel thing, they make me vomit instantly, so will have to rely on water and hope I don’t get hyponatremia heh, myself and two pals are gonna do it Saturday, we are gonna roughly run the route if I don't complete it i'm not doing the marathon. There is a good chance I might die as I think I have drank to much of late.

12:32 p.m.  
Blogger fatmammycat said...

Morning Nonny, running the entire route before the marathon itself is a bit of a risk apparently. Although I suspect it depends on the person. Aisling did two marathons in two weeks recently, uphill if you don't mind, but she's an experienced runner. Aren't you worried you'll banjax yourslf?
The caffeine gels make me gag too, but some of the citrus ones are not AS bad. Perhaps give them a whirl?

12:45 p.m.  
Blogger Unknown said...

What's a nice gel doing...?

Does this mean one of your ankles is less delightful than the other? Obsessing all night long, eh? And what are you doing with sleeping pills on the premises? Could you not have rolled the paramour over for some paramore?

12:54 p.m.  
Blogger fatmammycat said...

I could not, I had already elbowed the poor man about fifty times for snoring.
I have sleeping tablet here from the time I gave up taking the dormidina, same packet in fact. But where as before I would have said, 'sod this,' and taken one immediately, my refusal to do so is astounding to me. I tell you this race has me all disconbobulated.

12:58 p.m.  
Blogger aquaasho said...

Hi FMC. I've only suffered sleepless nights recently after giving up work. What I do is get up and write those lists. It's the only thing that works. If it means getting up and writing down what your thoughts are about the marathon, when you'll take the gels, what you'll have for breakfast that day etc. etc. then the best thing to do is get up and do it. It really does empty the head!!
You don't train to climb Everest by clmbing Everest so don't go running 26 miles beforehand. You won't have the water support and all that stuff, that you will have on the day. I never ran more than 17 miles before my first so don't worry. Willpower alone will get you through the rest.
The marathon expo usually has some lectures/ talks with sound advice about the last couple of days and the day itself.
(Sorry to sound like a know-it-all but I've made all the mistakes myself!)

1:07 p.m.  
Blogger Unknown said...

Sleeping pills are the devil's mucus (dried and packaged by the megapharms inc).
I was offered them once in a bereavement situation and I just couldn't get the idea that it would be preferable to prescription drug one's way through something rather than actually go through it and experience it.

Similarly with insomnia... people get it for a reason, so they should work on the reason, not the symptom. Btw, it's much better to be rolled over for amore than serially nudged for snoring. And whatabout that ankle?

1:09 p.m.  
Blogger fatmammycat said...

Don't apologise missus, you're knowledge is most appreciated. I feel need to get the 30k under my belt purely for psychological reasons, I can say then, 'well 30k, I've done that, and after that it's only a sunday run on top, and I CAN do that.' Daft isn't it?
Well I don't know about the ankle Conan, it seems all right and in the cold light of day I'm less worried about it. But I never did get a conclusive answer from the x-ray that time and although it's holding up fine, and I must say the new runners from Brooks really help, in the middle of the night I couldn't help but fret like a loon.
I don't take sleeping tablets any more, I used to take them almsot nightly. Thing is you get used to taking them and that's what happened to me, so I had to give up cold turkey, I'm prone to bouts of insomnia mind, especially if I"m twittering about something-like now.

1:19 p.m.  
Blogger daisy mae said...

ah fmc! the first marathon! so exciting! i had the same questions before i ran my first... things you might want to look into -
will there be food and water on the course? where and what? (we were provided with gel, bananas, cookies, powerade, and water....)
it's always best to have someone there to take you home, just in case.
the feeling of a marathon is superb! the excitement and energy may cause you to take off a bit fast, but there should be clocks along the way, so you may just have to force yourself to slow down. also, don't sell yourself short and start in the back if you know you're running faster than the walkers....
i found it helpful to grab the dog and walk the majority of the marathon course about a week or two before hand...
and just because you haven't run the full amount, don't worry! the adrenaline you'll have race day will carry you through...

best wishes fmc, you'll do fab!

1:40 p.m.  
Blogger fatmammycat said...

Thank you very much, for the wishes and the advice.

1:45 p.m.  
Blogger Twenty Major said...

I believe some lucky people can do it in a wheelchair. That might be worth considering.

1:51 p.m.  
Blogger fatmammycat said...

I know you can visualise how much I am shaking my head right now.

1:54 p.m.  
Blogger Unknown said...

Twenty, I believe they even get a head start on the ambulant competitors. Whatever happened to handicapping?

1:57 p.m.  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

O Jesus I can’t do the gel things my whole stomach is turning thinking of them, it’s like eating cotton wool yukeeee. Aisling, the other two dudes are experienced runners and have similar advice to you but I just know myself if I don’t do it before hand I won’t do it on the day, I’m strange like that, I’m not bothered with time or anything just finishing it will do. Is anybody doing it for charity??

Twenty that was funny I dare you to borrow a wheelchair, go down on the day and try and enter.

2:13 p.m.  
Blogger Twenty Major said...

I might get Dirty Dave to push me. That'd be awesome.

2:25 p.m.  
Blogger Megan McGurk said...

I'm with aquaasho, write it down and get it out of your system. Once you see it on paper you can stop thinking about it. Successful people often have an obsessive streak so don't feel badly about going over every detail. You are going to own this motherfucker.

2:39 p.m.  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I’ll get the girls to don bikinis and high heels and walk around you holding placards high above their heads saying “Twenty Number One”. You can smoke Major the whole way round. Dave be able to scut on the back of your chair when going down hill. It will be epic.

3:01 p.m.  
Blogger Cycles Goff said...

Traditionally race nerves happen the night before, Fmc.

Smart of you to get them out of the way twenty days in advance.

3:01 p.m.  
Blogger fatmammycat said...

I like to stay ahead of the game.

3:31 p.m.  
Blogger Sam, Problem-Child-Bride said...

What is this gel thing? Do you eat it?

3:39 p.m.  
Blogger fatmammycat said...

It's a kind of a high energy carbo packed slurm that everyone seems to be using these day.

3:45 p.m.  
Blogger John Mc said...

FMC, with all the running and what not you may have to change the moniker to SMC.

4:54 p.m.  
Blogger FINN said...

don't worry about worrying, FMC. by the time the race rolls 'round, your head will be clear and it'll be all about the running.

have you found a gel that works for you?

5:26 p.m.  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

if you can't get used to them gel thingies, just take a couple of clugose sweets

5:37 p.m.  
Blogger fatmammycat said...

Slowmammycat? I could see it working.

Finn, I haven't really, the chap in the shop-who does triathalons by the by- the other day told me to make sure I got one that didn't make me gag, but so far they pretty much all do, or they dry out my mouth completely and turn to a sort of chewy crust, the orange-y wasn't the worst, but still, pretty vile.

Hello stipe212, thank you, I had heard they were good, if I can't tolerate the gels I will use them as back up.

Off to post today's doings now.

6:10 p.m.  
Blogger John Mc said...

No, Skinnymammycat!

6:25 p.m.  
Blogger daisy mae said...

oooh, just thought of something! over here in the states you can buy both gummies and jellybeans that are made of the same energy-stuffs as the gels, but they taste LOADS better....

9:14 p.m.  
Blogger fatmammycat said...

Eeeeeee!!!!That is offically the best thing I have heard in...in...well since, well I don't now since when. I am a jelly baby lover of the very highest order.
They really work as well as the gels? Oh my, that has really made my day, a thousand thank yous.

9:38 p.m.  
Blogger John Mc said...

daisy mae is bang on. I've used those when racing my mtn bike, and the are so much better tasting and more convenient than gel. Try opening a gel when riding a bike at full tilt! Only thing is, that you get a bit fuller.

9:38 p.m.  
Blogger fatmammycat said...

I'd imagine that does get messy. Oh but John, jelly babies are sooooo much nicer that those vile gels. really, this is the best possible news.

10:03 p.m.  
Blogger Twenty Major said...

Except you can only get them in America.

Buy a bag of real jelly babies and I'll inject them full of my homemade energy concoction. You'll fly around.

10:32 p.m.  
Blogger fatmammycat said...

What are you talking about? Are not the jelly babies I always buy in Mark N Sparks jelly babies?

10:34 p.m.  
Blogger Twenty Major said...

Jelly babies are the little powdered cunts.

10:39 p.m.  
Blogger fatmammycat said...

Yeah, you can get them over here you know. I will get them, and I will behead them.

10:50 p.m.  
Blogger Twenty Major said...

A bag full of little Ken Bigleys.

11:25 p.m.  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

John/Daisy what are the called I'm heading to NY for a couple of days next week???

11:49 p.m.  
Blogger John Mc said...

They are called Sharkies

http://www.trisports.com/sharensnac.html

2:00 a.m.  
Blogger daisy mae said...

sharkies are the gummies, the link for the jellybeans is:

http://jellybelly.com/Cultures/en-US/Shop/Category?CS_Catalog=B2C&CS_Category=Sport%20Beans&gclid=CP7Hyo68g48CFSCTWAodLnTv2w

5:18 a.m.  
Blogger daisy mae said...

hmmm... the whole address didn't copy. once you get to that page, click on shop, and you're looking for 'sport beans'.

5:19 a.m.  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Many Thanks dudes!

9:09 a.m.  
Blogger fatmammycat said...

Thanks folks!

9:30 a.m.  

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