2008 Iron Man Blog

I flew out to LA from Houston on Valentine’s Day, checked into the hotel adjacent to the Convention Center and waited anxiously for my boyfriend (Rich) to meet me there to have our Valentine’s dinner.  Come to find out, when I checked into the hotel they made a mistake and were supposed to have a “special” room reserved for me.  Instead they told me that the room was not ready and gave me a different room than what was planned.  Well, unfortunately, that ruined my boyfriend’s sweet surprise to have flowers, balloons and a gift bag full of goodies waiting for me.

He was pretty bummed when I sent him a text and didn’t mention anything about the surprise waiting in my room. Instead, one of the bell boys came up and delivered everything to me, but at that point it was no longer a surprise.  My man is the sweetest though!  The flowers were orchids, which are my all time favorite, the balloons were giant and kid-like, just like me, and the goodies inside, well, some were personal and some were cute clothes, like the pants I’m wearing in these pictures.  He did so good!!

For dinner that night, his label got us reservations at Craft in Century City.  It is a beautiful fine dining restaurant but without the stuffy atmosphere.  We got to see Nick from the All American Rejects while we were there.  He is on the same music label as my boyfriend, so that was really cool.  The food there was incredible! It is served a la carte and family style.  We even had dessert, which was a giant gourmet peanut butter cup with peanut butter ice cream.  When we left they sent us home with carrot and cranberry apple muffins in take home bags for breakfast the next morning.  It was awesome!  I knew I’d need to do a few extra plyos the following week to be in the shape I wanted for the Arnold, but it was worth it!  Definitely go check it out!

The next morning we headed over to the expo at the Convention Center, where I was surprised to see that even at a larger venue this year the hall was fairly full.  There were lots of vendors and a large area set up for American Gladiator auditions.  I thought it was lucky that the boybuilding.com booth was close to the end where we could see the stage and close to the area where the auditions were being held.  I got to see tons and tons of people try and run obstacles on the slick floor and do pull-ups until they were blue in the face.

My buddy Valerie Waugaman, better known as the personality Siren on American Gladiators, was there to motivate and cheer everyone on.  It was great to see her and hear all the cool things she has been up to.  I expect big things, so keep your eye on her.  She is a very determined and ambitious person, not to mention super fun!

The following day at the expo I got to watch the World’s Fittest Couple competition, which was really impressive.  They performed amazing routines demonstrating strength and flexibility.  I do well just to walk in high heels and not trip and fall.  I also got to see my friend Amanda Harris, better known as Barbie Barbell.  She was at the All American EFX booth.  We chatted a little while about our plans to work out together and to do a photo shoot at the Arnold a few weeks away in Columbus, OH.

Another big highlight of my weekend was that I got to see my friend, Callie Marunde and her beautiful baby girl that resembled her daddy, Strongman Jesse Marunde, who sadly passed away last year.  He is terribly missed but I was very happy to see Callie doing so well and to hear that she was preparing to compete in Poland on behalf of the US this year.  Please take a look at her website:

www.marunde-muscle.com

and offer your support and encouragement.  There is an awesome community of people there. I plan to poke my head in on occasion and say hello as well.

The last day at the expo was not quite as busy as the two days prior, so I got to play a little bit and be a part of the Power Plate demonstration.  This machine vibrates at a super quick pace which makes for an unstable platform in which to perform your exercises.  Aside from feeling a bit funny at first, it really seems to force you to engage more muscles and your stabilizers to complete the exercises.

The entire trip was a great time.  I have gone two years in a row now and at the rate it is growing I have no doubt that there will be more and more people attending year after year, including me!