Friday the 13th - Our Lucky Day!

Happy Friday the 13th!

Friday the 13th is a lucky day in our family. I met Bodybuilder Hubby on a Friday the 13th!

It was December, 15 years ago. I had to go to a Christmas party for my job, but was planning to leave as soon as possible to get to another party with friends.

But when I got to that first party, there was this cute guy there. He was with a friend of his - the guy who had first introduced him to the world of competitive bodybuilding.

I sat near them during dinner and had a chance to start chatting with Cute Guy. I thought that maybe, just maybe, he was interested in me, so I took my paper plate to the trash to see if he would follow me. He did.

Yeah!

I never did make it to the other party.

But I did get to marry Cute Guy seven months later.

Registration Update

According to Bodybuilder Hubby, as of last night we had 61 competitors registered for this year's contest, which is now just two weeks away. Last year at this time we had 56.

So, since registration usually doubles during the last two weeks, we're on track for another Biggest Show Ever.

So, here's my annual plea to those of you who are planning to register but haven't yet actually done so.

Please, please, please register soon. Like now, preferably.

I'll be spending the better part of next week working on the contest program, including the list of competitor names that will be included. If you're not registered by next weekend, your name will not be included, even if you call Bodybuilder Hubby at 11pm two nights before the contest and beg.

So register now! Or at least this weekend. Especially since late fees kick in next Tuesday, April 17!

T-shirts and Programs and Posters, Oh My!

I’m a really good planner.

After the first contest year, when so much of what had to be done came down to the last minute, I came up with a list of tasks and assigned due dates so that the work would be nice and spread out, done a little bit at a time, in a logical, efficient matter.

It was a really great plan.

Unfortunately, I’m not so good at actually following through with the plans I put together.

So, with less than four weeks to go until the contest, and that bit of panic setting in, it’s time to actually get some things done.

This week: The Contest T-shirt Design

I’m taking a different approach this time around. I’ve found a couple amazing websites that offer a huge variety of graphic designs created by random people. Most of the time, graphics available online have all sorts of copyrights attached. Some can be used for personal use only. Some require that the designers’ logo or copyright line is included in the final image. But, I think as more people learn to create digital designs, just for fun or practice, there are more and more designs that are available with no restrictions. So I can take a great image someone else made, make some tweaks, and end up with something original and interesting for the contest. Perfect.

After that, I’ll start work on the program, though Bodybuilder Hubby hasn’t gotten any of the ads from sponsors yet. The program is one project that always seems to come down to that last week.

Bodybuilder Hubby finished getting the sponsor logos on the poster and has had a lot of requests for copies, which is great. He was up late last night assembling packing boxes, addressing labels and getting more posters ready to send off. He told me this morning that he’d run out and had to get more printed, which is the kind of added task that’s welcome.

Ticket sales and competitor registration always come down to the last couple weeks, so we’re looking forward to seeing how many people will be involved this year. Can’t even really guess at this point, though it’s looking good.

The area’s NGA season starts this coming weekend with the NGA Grand Teton competition. Our contest registrations always jump after the other contests start. Maybe competitors want to see how they do on stage before committing to another show, or maybe they just focus on one competition at a time.

Whatever it is, best of luck to those of you competing this weekend, and we hope to see you on our stage in less than four weeks!

Here We Go Again!

Only six weeks left until the 2012 spring competition!

We’ve gotten off to a bit of a late start this year. We didn’t have a venue until about a month ago. After some “issues” last year, we didn’t think we’d be able to use the same place again, but Bodybuilder Hubby worked it all out, and now we’re ready to go.

This will be the fourth time that Bodybuilder Hubby (with my help, of course) has run this show. It’s a bit amazing to look back and see how much has changed.

 In 2009 there were 84 competitors. Last year we had 116, with more expected this year.

 In 2009 we had a one day event. This will be our second year with a two-day event:  Amateur Figure on Friday night and everyone else on Saturday.

 We added Bikini in 2011. Probably my least favorite category, but it did give a large new group of competitors a chance to get on stage. Bikini is back for 2012.

We’ve added a Figure Novice category, and - after a year with 17 competitors in one Figure division (I promise that will not happen again!) - we now won’t decide on the Figure divisions (which are determined by height) until right before the competition. That way we can make sure the groups are fairly equal and not too big. More groups means more first place trophies and a better battle for Overall!

In 2009 we had two toddlers and I was working multiple part-time jobs from home with the kiddos here with me. Now I work full time while they are at school all day. 2009 was Barney and diapers. Thankfully, 2012 means both of those things are distant memories. If nothing else, I’ll look at least a little less sleep deprived at this year’s contest.

 Another change for this year is that Bodybuilder Hubby is helping with some of the graphics. I put together the design for this year’s poster (Flames! I can make flames in Photoshop!) but he’s taken it and added in logos for all 24 sponsors that we now have.

 We’re off to a good start.

Websites and Memory Lane

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 5^th place one year, 1^st 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 1^st 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 3^rd 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!

Contest Day! Wives Unite!

The morning judging portion of the contest is already complete.  The judges - at this very moment - are deliberating and calculating scores.  Winners will be announced tonight at the evening show, which starts at 5pm.  (FYI: Tickets are still available and will be sold at the door.)

It was a good contest this morning.  The classes were just the right size, I thought, for the competitors to be able to show themselves off and for the judges to make their choices.  The Men’s Masters class took the longest - six guys, and they all looked great according to me.

My favorite part of the contest is the social aspect. I got to see and chat with one old friend and former coworker who was there supporting a first-time competitor.  It’s always such a nice surprise and lots of fun for me when people I know from outside the bodybuilding world come see what's happening here. I know a few things about the contest; let me tell you all about it! :)

I also got to meet the wife of one of the other pro bodybuilders. The pros didn't compete today, but her husband was one of the judges. At the ticket table with me was the wife of another former competitor. 

So together we decided: there needs to be a club for bodybuilder wives.  We could share stories, commiserate as needed, show off adorable pictures of our young kids practicing their bodybuilding poses like Daddy, and just generally make the contests and even bigger social event.

Also, we think that like NFL or NBA wives, Bodybuilder Wives should have special reserve setting, possibly with free drinks, and with massages and other perks thrown in for good measure.

And hot fudge sundaes. Because one of my favorite bodybuilding contest traditions – after watching dozens of incredibly fit, well-dieted people walk across that stage – is to get a hot fudge sundae to eat in the car on the way home.

Two Days!!!

Our "Fall Show" bodybuilding competition is in two days!  Two days!!!

As I'm typing this, our living room looks like a bodybuilding contest exploded all over it.  Bodybuilder Hubby has been home all day organizing the contest t-shirts (which turned out half-way decent, if I do say so myself), filling competitor goodie bags and fielding phone call after phone call about the show.

In our garage are eleven boxes of trophies, which were, of course, dropped off on our driveway by a not-very-helpful FedEx lady on a weekend when Bodybuilder Hubby was out of town.  I got my workout for that day by lifting and carrying those boxes into the safety of our garage. Because you never know when someone might come by and want to steal a box full of bodybuilding trophies.

We have about 45 people competiting, which I think is great.  More than I expected.  And we've had two people call this week asking to be added to the list.  This is good because we want more people to be involved, but it's mildly annoying because we've already sent the programs to be printed so they won't be in there, and we'll have to add their names to the lists and judges' score sheets that we prepared. Oh, well. The more the merrier, right?

Must be something about spending so much time doing work for a contest that features people who have been dieting for months. I am totally craving a cinnamon roll right now. And I don't even normally like cinnamon rolls.

We'll be ready for Saturday morning when the competitors show up.  I hope that we have a good crowd. The show is so much more fun when there's a lot of people and energy in the room.

If you're not competiting this weekend and you haven't bought your tickets yet, why not?  It's cheaper if you buy them ahead and you'll have more open seats to choose from.  Tickets are on sale now at http://www.idahotickets.com/.  You can also buy the tickets at the door on Saturday from yours truly, but you'll save me a bit of work if you get them ahead of time.  :)

Oh, and somebody please remind me to get a hand stamp!