urbanmommy’s BodyBlog

Have you ever dreamed a dream and actually had it come true? 

I HAVE!!!! 

On Saturday, I walked out onto the stage at the University Of D.C. and competed in the NPC East Coast Natural Tournament of Champions. 

ME!!!  Me….the girl who couldn’t do 5 minutes on the stair master.  Me….the girl who never got a date in high school.  Me…the girl who fought and fought with her weight and bad body image.

And not only did I compete…BUT I PLACED!! 

I competed in 2 divisions:  Figure Masters (over 35) and Figure Open Short Class (under 5′4").  In the Figure Masters, I placed 2nd.  In the Figure Open, I placed 3rd!!

Can you believe it?  I’m still in awe.  But I’m not really in awe over winning the trophies.  Yeah, that was amazing and unbelievable.  The real moment hit me when I was backstage with all the other competitors.  As I’m walking around in my bikini, having my make-up done, and pumping up before the show, I watched people.  It dawned on me that I was here!!!!!!!  It was NOT just a story I read about in Oxygen or other fitness mags.  IT WAS HAPPENING TO ME!! 

Then the real kicker.  The announcement:  "ALL ATHLETES TO THE PRE-SHOW MEETING." 

Athletes?  Oh, they must mean the competitors….

Wait…I’m a competitor.  OMGosh….I’m an athlete!!!  

I began to think back to all my years of struggling with my weight, wanting so badly to just tuck my shirt into my jeans and wear a belt!   Instead, I hid behind the big shirts and the oversized swimsuits.  And now, God has allowed me to enjoy His blessings!  I now am able to reap the benefits of clean eating and smart training. 

It will take me several days to give you all the details of my experience.  Check back on my figure competition blog and you’ll get all the info you  need.  I will say this:  I’ve never been so scared and so excited at the time!  It was thrilling and frightening. 

I’ve definitely been bitten by the "Competition Bug."  And I’m ready to do it all again for my competition in August.  8 weeks from now, I’ll try for a 1st place finish.

Thank you all so much for your comments, and emails.  I’m sorry if I haven’t replied to you yet…I will really try to get back to everyone to thank you personally!!

I took my trophies to my "Biggest Loser" team meeting last night.  (Yes, I am a Trainer/Coach for a Biggest Loser team at my gym.  I’m having a blast, and I know my team is learning so much.)  I sat my trophies right beside me and gave a little "Pep talk."  My team heard all about my own struggles with food and exercise.  Here’s a little of what I said:

"You can’t tell me I don’t understand your excuses.  I’ve been there.  I love to eat!  I don’t always like to exercise.  But I made a decision over a year ago that I would change my mindset and transform my body, and there’s no turning back.  I want my story to inspire you and challenge you.  Are you willing to make that same commitment?  Will this be the beginning of your story?"

Dreams do come true!!!  MAKE IT COUNT!!!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 18th, 2008 at 5:34 am and is filed under Training. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.