#firstfigurecompetition

So, I did it! I am officially a figure competitor! I feel so blessed and grateful to had had this experience. It's crazy to think that I actually put my mind to this some 4 or 5 months ago and actually accomplished my goal!

Here's kind of how the weekend went!

Friday, 3:30PM Chris and I drove up to Sheboygan to the host hotel for my 5pm spray tan! I've never gotten a spray tan before so I didn't really know what to expect! I walked into this hotel room and there were 2 tall tents set up. The girl who was doing it was really nice. I stripped down completely naked (!) and she sprayed me with this nozzle type-thing. It was cold! but my body got used to it. I was DARK! Chris hung out in the room with the girl's boyfriend so he wasn't too bored =]

5:30PM

Once that was over, Chris and I headed over to Perkin's for a bite to eat. At this point, I was done with my water intake (sadness) but needed to continue to carb it up! I ordered the short stack pancakes with a side of fruit. It felt so weird eating that stuff. I even got to put syrup on it! Chris assured me about the science behind carbing up before a show and how it all plays into the water depletion.

7:00PM

After dinner, we went back to the hotel for my polygraph test, which was a piece o' cake. The guy asked me several questions pertaining to taking any INBF banned substances. I passed with flying colors =] Chris and I then headed to my friend's house about 20 minutes north of where the show was. We hung out that night, had a bonfire and some laughs. I went to bed around 11:00 but didn't sleep well because I was too excited!

Saturday, 9:15AM

After eating a little chicken breast, a banana and some oats, doing my hair and makeup, and practicing a little posing, Chris and I left for the theatre. Check-in was at 10 so I was dropped off, checked in, got my INBF card, goodie bag and got my SECOND spray tan. This time, she did every spot except my face because you don't want your face to be extremely dark. I looked great! There was an athlete meeting at 11AM and then we all took a group shot on stage where I met a nice girl named Chelsey. She was in the figure medium class. (I was in short). We basically helped each other out all day =] All the other competitors were really nice and helpful.

12:00PM

Prejudging was at noon but Figure was towards the end so I didn't actually go out on stage until 1 or so. Before I went on stage, I had two ricecakes with peanut butter/honey and dried cranberries. I wasn't too nervous really! Only Chris was there for prejudging. I wasn't shaky and the only thing that was quivering was my lips from smiling. The only things I could have improved on were my side poses and my t-walk could use some more gracefulness but that all comes from experience. There were 8 girls in my class.

After prejudging, I breathed a BIG sigh of relief! Chris and I then met up with his mom and aunt and we got lunch. I had a little side salad.

4:30PM

I went back to the theatre around 4:30 to get spruced up for the night show at 6:00. My family was coming as well as my best friend Sam. I was pumped to just go out there and have fun! Unfortunately, there were SO many competitors that my excitement kind of diminished because we were sitting around forever and it was soo boring!  While I was waiting, I ate some flank steak, a little bit of banana and oats, and a BIG grapefruit. I also had a chocolate chip cookie. Figure didn't even get on stage til 8:30PM!

At the night show they announced each competitor and read their bios while the competitor did their T-walk. Then they called out the top 5. My number was the second number they called! I was so excited! At first I thought Wait, are they just calling the people that DIDN'T place? I ended up placing 4th out of the top 5 ladies that placed =] SUPER pumped that I placed. It was SO AWESOME to hear all the cheers when I did my t-walk. I felt so happy and confident.

After prejudging lot of people were saying that I was going to place well. I was a little confused on what the judges were looking for because the girls that placed in my class had very different builds than me. Chris said that maybe I'm more built for Fit Body (physique) and I think he's right (don't ya hate that?). I think for my next show I am going to do Figure AND Fit body.

So..that's it! After I got off stage I stuffed my face with Topper's pizza that they had ordered for the competitors. OM NOM NOM.

When I got home, I ate some fried chicken, a cake pop (I won numerous cake pops at my friend's bridal show so I had them in the freezer :) and a chocolate cupcake. Ah, life is good.

I am still in such awe that it all happened. I am definitely hooked. It's such a fun experience. Just seeing all the support from my family and friends was truly humbling. I was especially happy to see my family enjoy themselves. They couldn't say enough about all the competitors that they saw and my mom wasn't as grossed out my the bodybuilders as I thought she was going to be :) I really think she is coming around to understanding the bodybuilding world :)