The Day After the Competition

Well, it's Sunday, the day after my first figure competition.  Wow!  It was a wonderful experience.  Let me tell you about it...

I arrived the night before the competition to check in and have a polygraph test.  I appreciate OCB's commitment to a drug-free show, so we all had to take polygraph tests and winners had to provide a urine sample at the end of the show.  My self-tanning wasn't working out so well, so I found a woman at the hotel on Friday night who was providing a tanning service and had her apply a coat of Jan-Tana to me.  (I learned that Jan-Tana works much better on me than does Pro-Tan.)  I met a few other contestants while waiting for the polygraph test and we had fun talking and sharing notes.  I saw Lindsley from my posing class and met Barbara, who is 53 and looks like she's 33 (a walking advertisement for the benefits of weight training for women as we age!)

On Saturday morning at 8:45 am, I joined about seven other women backstage who were waiting for make-up pro Tanya to apply our stage make up (including false eyelashes).  Tanya was fabulous and I LOVED my stage makeup.  Figure competitions are a unique blend of an athletic competition and a beauty pageant.  We were all pumping up before going on stage and eating our carefully prescribed foods at precisely the right times throughout the day, as well as making sure our suit bottoms were glued to our rear-ends (Bikini Bite) and our spray-tans were perfect. 

I competed in two categories - debut (for first-timers) and grand masters (age 45+).  I was nervous and excited, but mostly excited.  I felt very prepared (thank you Domenick and Joe!) and enjoyed posing for the judges.  It was hard work, but I was ready for it.

It was a long day, but time passed quickly as all the competitors performed in their rounds and the judges made their decisions.  It was a great feeling of comraderie out in the hall with the other contestants as we shared stories and experiences about training and our lives. 

Before I knew it, it was 5pm and time for the evening show.  In the show, each contestant performed a stage walk (approximately 90 seconds).  The announcer read my introduction and noted that I was a breast cancer survivor.  The crowd cheered and I felt my emotions making their way to the surface.   I thought "I can't cry yet!" and made my way onto the stage.  I was nervous, happy and proud all at the same time.  I managed to not fall off my shoes (!), even though I wobbled at one point.  As I walked off stage, I did cry for a few minutes, as the reality of having reached this important goal set in.


I remembered that a year ago at this time, I was in the middle of chemo treatments and a figure competition was still a distant dream that kept me going.  Finally being at the competition and completing the last portion brought a tremendous sense of closure to my whole cancer experience.  From my diagnosis, I had been saying "I'm going to compete in a figure competition when this is over".  So the competition became symbolic for my cancer treatment being over.  I felt free and victorious. 

On Sunday morning, I was so happy to be in church.  During the prayer time, I shared with the the congregation how much gratitude I felt toward God for enabling me to reach this milestone.  I felt strong, whole, healthy and beautiful.  Praise the Lord!

A few people have asked me how I placed and if I won any awards.  Awards were given to the top five contestants in each category, and I didn't win any awards for either of my categories.  I wasn't dissappointed by this at all; I didn't expect to win awards as a 45-year-old first-timer who just completed cancer treatment.  It was a major achievement just to know that I was fit enough to be up on stage and able to compete.  I felt like a winner just being there.