For most of the competitors from last weekend’s show, the work they put into the show was over sometime Saturday evening.
For me, the work ended about ten minutes ago.
I took over the contest website almost a year ago. Initially I changed and updated only the pages related to the upcoming contest and left the rest alone. My plan was that someday, when I had time, I’d get the older pages updated too.
But, as those of you with jobs and kids know, there is no time. So when I went to add the scoresheets for the Fall Show (currently posted on www.ngaidaho.com) I decided I might as well take the time to update the older scoresheet pages as well, so that the pages would be more alike and easier to update in the future.
I took a lot longer than I expected, as most projects do, but looking back at (and in some cases typing) the names of the former competitors brought back a lot of memories of those shows.
It’s interesting to see how many people compete almost every year. And it’s interesting to see how competitors’ placings change from year to year. Like the figure competitor who had 5th place one year, 1st the next, and competed as a Pro the year after that. There’s a story there.
There are competitors who were last one year and first the next, and vice versa. One of the things I like about these contests is that, while there are winners who have a streak of several years of 1st places, no one wins every time. The rankings change, sometimes quite significantly from year to year. There are stories there too.
I remembered the year that Bodybuilder Hubby won his Pro card, read back over the names of the others who competed that day. That was an amazing night. He won his weight class and then was back on stage for the Overall at the end of the show – 17 minutes on stage, guys dripping sweat under those spotlights, showing off for the judges. In the video that I took of that time, you can hear me occasionally yelling encouragement and a good friend of mine – who was watching a bodybuilding contest for the first time – yelling too. Then they announced his name, and all you can hear is us screaming like crazy people, and you can’t see anything because I was waving the camera around, also like a crazy person. Even now when I watch it I get a little choked up and feel so much pride in what Bodybuilder Hubby accomplished.
I was also reminded of the show two years later – Bodybuilder Hubby’s first as a Pro. We had a baby girl, just six months old, our first. That spring I was back at work full-time (which was really hard for me – I hated being away from her during the day), and she was going through this spurt when she never slept for more than 3 hours at a time. I was so exhausted that at one point I dozed off standing in front of a soda machine trying to decide which can of caffeine to buy. I wanted very much to be at the show to support Bodybuilder Hubby, but the Pros went on last. It was such an incredibly long day. Hours of pacing the hallway with the baby, trying to find quiet places where she could nap. Eventually I ended up sitting in the very back of the auditorium, holding a sleeping baby with her ears covered so the audience screaming wouldn’t wake her up. I even dozed off for a bit myself sitting back there. Fortunately, I woke up in time to see Bodybuilder Hubby win 3rd place. Not bad at all for his first Pro show!
There will be new names added next spring, new memories made. The spring competition is tentatively scheduled for April 21, 2012, which – according to the newly updated website countdown – is only 184 days away!
