I Did It!

 
I can't believe the weekend is over, I finally achieved one of my biggest dreams, celebrated Bella, it was such an awesome weekend!

Friday night David and I went to McKinley Middle School to get me all registered, there I finally got to meet Summer, she is so, so sweet and I'm blessed to have her as a friend now!  We'll both be competing again in May in Des Moines, yay!  Summer did amazing and won nearly everything, she was phenomenal.

I'm going to be completely honest, I was happy with how I looked but a bit disappointed with how I ended up Saturday, I feel I looked better on Wednesday.  The peak week diet we chose did not do well with my body, I didn't look bad by any means I just wasn't as tight on Saturday as I was on Wednesday.  Thinking adding in higher carbs on Thursday through Saturday is just too much for me.  At least we have 208 days until Des Moines and plenty of time to do trial runs of peak weeks as we continue training.

I'm sure you are all wondering how the tan went, oh man, that was a long and cold process.  Fans on me, David seeing things that can't be unseen, waiting an hour after the first coat before we could do the second coat.  We got started later than we wanted to and at 12:30am after the second coat dried I just wanted to go to bed, we decided to get up at 5am and do a third coat before Mindy did my makeup.

I got no sleep, maybe an hour combined.  My mind was racing, I just couldn't shut if off!  That morning when we were painting the third coat it didn't go as smoothly, it was like it was spreading the first two coats around, but we got through it.  Mindy matched my makeup perfectly, I didn't put any tanner on my face.  David did my hair, thankfully we packed our bags for the day on Friday night, we cut it to the wire and headed to McKinley.

First there was an athletes meeting, Summer and I sat together and listened to how the day would go.  Bodybuilders were first then it was Figure.  It was so nerve racking going to wait backstage, the other competitors were wonderful.  I was surprised to be in the short class, I totally expected to be in the tall class.  The short class was TOUGH, we all looked amazing, it was insane.  When we had to walk out on stage it was like my mind just stopped.  I focused on the judges, my posing of course and smiling.  My mouth was so dry from not having any water, it was so, so hard to smile!  Thankfully in the Beginner round we didn't have to hold the poses too long, it went by quickly and I was shaking like a leaf the entire time.  I was so, so nervous, it was ridiculous!  Thankfully I guess all of us were shaking, I'm hoping that wears off after competing a few times :)

Going on with the Open class was so intimidating, I felt out of place with some of these women.  They were all so amazing, again so, so kind, I felt proud standing by them all.

After pre-judging we headed back to our house, a long wait until finals at 6pm. The day went by fairly quickly and I was eager to get back and have fun at the finals.  First we had to come on stage by two's and pose, then fall back so we were all on stage for the national anthem.  Of course Summer and I went out together, our groups were crazy loud, felt so good :)

Before the Figure t-walks they had a kids pose down, Bella and Lauryn did it, so awesome to be standing back stage and able to give them high fives and wish them luck.  It was so adorable, they had real medals for all the kids :)  When it was time for the t-walk, my nerves kicked in again, I felt confident with it but knowing the judges were out there, my family and friends, so, so scary.  As they read my little note card thanking my family and friends on this journey I kept hoping they would play Applause by Lady Gaga, we didn't get to pick our music for the t-walks so I had no clue what to expect.  I about shit when Applause came on for my walk, when I walked on stage it was like I totally disappeared into myself, I have no other way to describe it.  I only thought of each pose and getting to each X on the stage, I felt like I saw a shaking mess through all of it and was relieved when I got done.  David came backstage and told me I killed it, I told him I was insanely shaky and he said you couldn't tell at all in the crowd.  I was relieved, he was so, so proud of me :)

When it came time for the awards I was nervous, I honestly was just hoping to not get last in Beginner, I didn't think I would place in Open.  I didn't get last in Beginner I got 4th, out of 5 competitors, I was very happy to receive my first figure competition trophy :)  I didn't place in the Open category, not gonna lie, I was a bit upset but I think also it was partly just being done with this process for this competition, it was crazy to know that ok, it's over and time to enjoy the evening with my family and talk to the judges at the after party and get their input.

Kyle knew I was upset about not placing in Open, he was wonderful and of course extremely supportive.  We knew what we needed to work on and will put a lot of hard work in over the next seven months.  It was so awesome to have the giant cookie he had gotten me, it was in the trunk, we got that sucker out and I took a big bite, it was like heaven!!!!

Sadly most of my pictures are from back stage, hoping to get some from other people.  Kyle couldn't bring the camera in for pre-judging, they wouldn't let him although I know other people have photos from that.  Then he forgot it for finals when he could have taken pictures, dang it!

Dinner was good, I enjoyed some mozerella sticks, a beer, a cheeseburger and fries.  I ate it all and ate more cookie later, Laura got me tons of candy some of that was devoured later as well, shockingly I never got an upset tummy!

I talked with the head judge and another judge Dawn, Dawn is a professional bodybuilder that lives here and she is the one that gave me my tanning advice. She is so, so sweet and easy to talk to.  They both said that my stage presence is awesome, posing, t-walk, smiling, beautiful, all I have to do is tighten up.  Dawn advised me over the next seven months to put on more muscle, but keep the same goal weight and really practice some peak weeks to see what will get me leanest.  Gave me advice on this upcoming week when I'll be gaining weight back, go ahead and indulge but not for days on end.  Eat more calories and gain the weight back, you are supposed to gain some weight back.  I've already gained back six pounds, but still have my flat tummy :)

We celebrated Bella's birthday on Sunday, I ate what I wanted and think that I'm kind of tired of this food and actually am looking forward to eating cleaner again.  My body really got used to it, maybe it won't be so hard to make it more of a lifestyle now :)

All in all this was a great experience, I feel more driven than ever to just improve.  I'm looking forward to training over the next seven months and seeing what I can accomplish.  What a whirlwind of a weekend, it was truly amazing!

Thank you to Kyle for training me and always believing in me no matter what.  Thanks to David for believing in me and working constantly with me on my poses and t-walk, my hair, everything!  Thank you Mindy for my beautiful makeup, I felt so gorgeous all day :)  Thanks to everyone for believing in me, I look forward to continuing this journey, learning more and having fun!