Great Achievements

This weekend was spent in Spokane for the 2007 Empire Classic Bodybuilding Competition. Mike was a competitor. He had competed in the Emerald Cup the weekend before which prepared him for what to do for this last weekend's competition. The Emerald Cup is the largest amateur bodybuilding competition in Washington state and the Empire Classic is the second largest. Weigh-in was Saturday morning at 8am and the prejudging began at 10am. There was no time to mess around with weight. Mike had spent all of Friday night dehydrating and getting his weight down. We brought the scale to keep tabs on how he was doing. In order to stay in a competitive weight class, he needed to stay no more than 176 pounds. He ended up weighing in at 175 and was able to make Middle Weight. That was a VERY big deal. When we finished weighing in, we went to have breakfast and carb up. He had blueberry pancakes drenched in sugar. This was to help him bulk up and get very vascular. It worked. He was all painted up and oiled down, went to the back of the stage to lift weights and get the blood moving. He was ready to play. When he walked up on stage, I was there as always, screaming my head off. I'm very loud at the shows. I consider myself to be one of his groupies and his biggest fan. There were several of us shouting out commands and coaching him. He looked A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!! There were 9 competitors in his class and everyone looked awesome. It was a tough group. Finally, the judges had everyone step back and called out 5 numbers; one of which was number 58...Mike. This was to get a better look at the top guys. Mike was in the group of the top guys!!! He had to of felt amazing when he heard his number called because we were all screaming and freaking out. They finished their posing and finally came off stage. Mike met up with us and we all congratulated him. We were able to find out later from one of the judges how he did. Well, he did awesome. Gordon told us he got 3rd place! 3rd out of 9 amazing looking men. It was so awesome. We went out for lunch, went to the hotel pool and got ready for the evening show. I decided to get myself all dolled up and look a little naughty for my husband. I wanted him to see me when he was up on the stage and be excited to get off the stage. When the time came for the announcements of who placed what, there was that little bit of doubt. What if Gordon lied? What if he truly didn't know what place Mike got and he was just guessing? When Mike was up on stage with the rest of the top 4 from his group, they announced who got 5th. Whew, it wasn't Mike. Then I got sick to my stomach. What if Mike got 4th? Then they announced 4th place. Not Mike. Finally, they announced 3rd. MIKE MOOOOODYYYY!!! We were all flipping out. It was so awesome to see that trophy handed to him. It was a very proud moment. When he was walking back to his group of friends, he was congratulated several times on his way. It was wonderful to watch. All that hard work and time spent paid off. Congratulations, honey. I'm so proud of you and am looking forward to painting and oiling you down again. I love you.