Thursday I took off school and had such a great day.... I got my nails done, got waxed, had a great workout, and just felt so excited and ready!
Friday morning I woke up on the wrong side of the bed... I was tired, it was rainy, I was trying hard to get myself psyched to leave but just felt sick to my stomach. Thank Jesus for my awesome trainer Helen at Kx who was there while I was doing my final workout to give me a little pep talk and a hug :-) After coming home, getting all packed up and showered, I felt much better! I went to go pick up my sweet man and we headed off to Greensboro!
We got there in just enough time for me to drop him off at the hotel and head to my first tanning appointment. In case you didn't know all competitors get a crazy dark spray tan to help showcase muscles better/make everyone a .. um... neutral? canvas. It was SO nuts. I walk into this gym and get herded into this curtained off area with 20 or so other stark naked women. We took turns getting sprayed from head to toe then standing in front of fans to dry for 15 minutes before our second coats. Needless to say all modesty went out the window.
I think two of the biggest shockers of the weekend were: 1. the tanning process and 2. how sweet the female competitors were.
Honestly, I was expecting the girls to be all caddy and keep to themselves, but the majority were so sweet and gave great advice! I made a couple friends I know I will keep up with for awhile, but I will get to that later!!!
After my first two coats of tan I went to check in and get my number ((268)), then I had enough time to pick up Stephen and have him drop me off at my last coat of tan while he went to grab some dinner for himself. I had packed all my food for the weekend and some snacks for him, but the poor man's gotta eat!
Competition Day:
I had to wake up at 4am for my makeup appointment at 4:30. Woof. It really was not that awful because I was SO excited, it literally felt like Christmas morning on Saturday. I hardly slept I was so amped up! All the tanning, hair and make-up was done by Alluring Artistry and they are fantastic! They had amazing attitudes the entire weekend and did beautiful work on the competitors.
I got back to the hotel and couldn't go back to sleep so I spent some time with Jesus just surrendering any nerves and thanking Him for the opportunity to be a part of this. I also asked that I would just be in tune with what the Holy Spirit is doing in the competitors around me so that I can encourage and share His love!
I woke Stephen up at seven and we headed to the theatre at 7:30! I felt SO at peace and not nervous in the least bit! Soon before the show started Alison and Rachel (my two best girlfriends from Wilmington) showed up for pre-judging, along with Cheryl, Mark and Cindy from my gym here in Lynchburg. I was already feeling SO, so loved! I sat out to watch the open figure which was right before my category so I ended up not having much time to "pump-up" before I got glazed and strutted out on stage with my class to go through the mandatory figure poses to be judged and placed.
Definitely my biggest lesson learned: ALWAYS pay attention to what is going on backstage!
After not making first call-outs I was pretty sure I had not placed, but we wouldn't find out till the final night show. Honestly, I was not super disappointed because this entire experience has been for ME and not for the trophy and I knew it would be a great day regardless! There were some great bodies in my class; however, I did feel confident I had a stronger upper body than some of the other competitors which is awesome :-)
The girl who was right behind me ((269)) was also doing her first show and we really supported each other the entire day. We made each other laugh when we were nervous and even pumped up for the night show together. I know we will definitely stay in touch through the coming months. Meet Marissa:
After pre-judging and being pretty sure I hadn't placed top 3 in my class I knew I could relax and just enjoy the experience of the rest of the day and spending time with some amazing people. I said my goodbyes to Alison and Rachel and met up with my family at the hotel to go to Ruby Tuesday's for a BANGING lunch and have them meet Stephen :-) We all came back and took post lunch naps and coffee-ed up for the night show.
No one in my family had ever experienced a body building show so it was quite a shocker for them, but they enjoyed it. At the night show the bodybuilders do routines to music and all of the awards are presented. Three time Mr. Olympia Phil Heath did a guest posing routine and it was insanely awesome! The crowd got sooo hype! After watching his routine I went back to get dressed up, pumped up and oiled up for my final time on stage. This time I would walk out alone, hit a couple poses and then walk off enjoying every moment in the spotlight. A massive group of amazing people came from my gym to cheer me on and I literally felt more loved than I ever have in my life!!!! My beautiful friend Kat came with Travis a teacher from my school as well.
I came off stage feeling so proud, and grateful, and loved and overwhelmed that God would choose me to be a part of such an amazing experience!!!! I hurried out to the lobby to meet the "entourage" and snap some pics before everyone headed home.
Afterwords, Brother, Stephen, Kat, Travis and myself stopped at this little pizza place in downtown Greensboro and I inhaled a massive piece of pizza before saying goodbye to Stephen, Kat and Travis. After that, brother and I proceeded to stop at Sheetz for a cookie and cheddar munchies :-) then headed to the hotel for a glorious, carb induced coma.
So you ask, now what?
Well, I REFUSE to be that girl that got in great shape for one show then falls off the bandwagon, and gains back a ton of weight, and never goes back to the gym. Today was my last day of "guilt free" eating (yes, I still tracked my macros even though I ate the other half of my bacon cheddar pretzel burger for dinner and had Panera with my family for lunch). I am keeping my awesome trainer, Ryan Blackburn, and am going to reverse diet and slowly start building up my carb and fat numbers. The goal of doing this is to help my metabolism adjust and ultimately try to increase my metabo so that I am eating more than I was, yet staying leaner than I was. It will certainly be a journey, but I am excited! He will be sending me a new plan tonight or tomorrow for me to follow. I am going to switch up some of my training routines, but I really want to keep on powerlifting (squats, deadlifts, etc) and lift HEAVY! I did go do sprints and some body weight pullups/dips tonight at the Sandusky track. I couldn't just lay around in this carb comatose state all day long!
I expect you all to hold me accountable, and I will keep you updated on my progress :-)
The oh so appropriate gift my parents got for me, instead of flowers:
