Running with the Big Boys

What a weekend! It's hard to believe that it's really Tuesday, since we packed so much into two days. Friday evening, hubby began putting away the carbs; chocolate moose cake and juice. Not much, but enough to make him a bit more coherent than he had been during the week. Saturday morning, he stuffed four or five slices of lemon cake down his gullet on the way to the high school. We dropped the kids off at my mother's and made it to the school with around ten minutes to spare. The backstage was already littered with lawn chairs and towels, men and women eating and talking, figure competitors gluing themselves into their bathing suits. It's a somewhat familiar scene for me, but I was really surprised at the number for figure competitors for the show. Three categories (short, medium and tall) with at least ten per category.

After hubby found out his categories (three total), and his athlete number, we chatted and waited for his turn. I was his oil lackey, so I greased him up good for the judges. Unlike the natural shows, we weren't sure how they moved the athletes for placing. It was hard to tell if he was even placing at all. He wasn't doing the best of poses at first, and then I saw something click within him and the "star" came out. He was doing much better.

Between categories, he would "pump up" and try to bring out his size and vascularity. He definitely had the goods because many a guy would say to him, "Man, you're ripped!" or "Looking good!" They were also surprised that he wasn't a heavy weight. At the weigh-in, he only weighed 167...his size just makes him appear so much bigger. There were guys who weighed much more and weren't as big as he was.

After the morning votes, we went back to get our girls then left for the hotel (we didn't want to make the long drive home, only to turn around again for the evening show, so we set up a room at a hotel in town). The room was nice, with a mini-fridge and a closet with magnetic doors (which made my girls very happy). We rested and hubby went down to the hotel exercise room to pump up some more. When he returned, we showered and dressed for the evening show, then left for the school.

My hubby looked amazing in the evening and all the eating and working out truly made a difference. It was too bad the votes were already in, because he looked so different by night fall. (I hoped they had some wavering results that tipped his way.) I got my kiddlings squared away in the audience seating, then went backstage to help with the oiling process again. There was an energy at night that wasn't present during the daytime (as was expected...the pressure was off and now the athletes could have fun). My hubby's pose-down routine was wonderful (set to a Kirk Franklin song) and I was so proud of his performance. I was also excited to see how many of his friends came to support him. He came out to prove that he could compete with the "big boys" (most of whom are on questionable supplements) and he did just that. He placed second in all of his categories!!

At the close of the evening, I was happy and exhausted (I can only imagine how hubby felt). He was too ready to eat and we ended up driving all over town, until we settled on our favorite Mexican restaurant. We ordered out and took our two, too sleepy kids back to the hotel. They awakened (at 11:30pm) and watched t.v. while we ate (they had already eaten) and we all passed out around midnight.

Sunday morning, we awakened to a snow storm. I don't think anyone was really prepared for cold temps and snow, but we were well rested and happy. Hubby took us all to breakfast, then home for a nap (it was bliss!). We spent the day resting, laughing and talking about the previous day's events. Hubby's mind was no longer roaming and wandering, which made his previously frustrated wife very happy.