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!

Top Ten Reasons to Get Tickets to the NW Natural Fall Show on October 15

1. Tickets are on sale now at www.idahotickets.com!

2. Reserved seating – the sooner you buy your tickets the better your seats will be

3. Fewer competitors = more freebies for me – oops, I mean you!

4. A stageful of tight glutes…

5. Considering competing in the spring? Come see what to expect!

6. Tickets are on sale now at Select-a-Seat outlets!

7. Smaller show = shorter. Never seen a show? Come get a taste of what it’s all about!

8. Where else is it completely appropriate to compare one person’s butt to another’s?

9. A stageful of six-pack abs…

10. BSU’s game is away that weekend.

The Fall Show is Coming!!!

The Fall Show is coming.

Soon.

It will be on Saturday, October 15 at Borah High School.  Registration is open on the www.ngaidaho.com website, and tickets are on sale now at www.idahotickets.com and Select-a-Seat outlets.

The Fall Show feels like it has sort of snuck up on us.  This is the first time we’ve done a contest in the fall.  For the Spring show, we spend months getting ready.  But for the fall, everything has come down to these last few weeks.

The biggest reason for the delay was truly out of our hands – We didn’t know where the contest would be held until just a few weeks ago.

At the competition last spring, some of the competitors violated the rules of the school where the contest was held.  Because of that, we lost the use of that school, which is a huge bummer, created a lot of work for Bodybuilder Hubby, and was generally a really stupid thing for those particular competitors to do.

(You may notice some changes to the competitor waiver this time around. That particular "issue" will not happen again.)

But after a series of meetings and a lot of waiting for a decision, we got access to the new auditorium at a different high school for the Fall Show.

Actually, I’m kind of looking forward to poking around that particular high school – both Bodybuilder Hubby and I graduated from that school, though we weren’t there at the same time and didn’t meet until years later.

I wonder if the hallways smell the same?

We will be ready.  Today Bodybuilder Hubby purchased 1000 sets of parts to make the competitor number badges.

1000.

If that doesn’t indicate that we’re in this for the long haul, I don’t know what does.

See you at the show!

Website Updates

So, I've been working on the contest website.


It feels like a bit of a luxury to have time to just get things done at my own pace - no big hurry.  But we have been getting questions about the Fall Show, so I'm motivated to work on it anyway.  The Fall Show is a first for us; we'll be running a bodybuilding, figure and bikini contest in October.  It will most likely be considerably smaller than the spring contest, so it could be a great way for competitors - especially first-timers - to get some practice on stage in a situation that's a little less stressful or overwhelming.


And, as Bodybuilder Hubby says, we now know how to run a bodybuilding contest, so why not do it more often?


There will not be a Pro division in the Fall Show, which is the biggest difference.  I've gone through several of the contest webpages already taking out references to the Pro division and making the information accurate.


I'm also updating the images and colors to reflect that the pages are updated for Fall.  I enjoy the design part of things, so I'd planned to update the website to match the poster for each contest once (now twice) a year.  Give me a little free time, a cup of coffee, a good show on Hulu and a blank screen in Photoshop, and I'm a happy girl.  My plan is that the pages like Contest Results and past contest info will keep their images and colors in a sort of visual archive.  Maybe nobody else will really notice, but I will like it.  :)


The location for the Fall Show hasn't been determined.  We had some issues with competitors violating rules at the last venue, which is affecting whether or not we'll be allowed back.  We'll let you all know as soon as we know later this summer.

Changes for Next Year

This afternoon we’ll be sending out a survey to competitors from this year’s contest, something we do every year.

At the contest this year, I heard lots of positive comments and not very many complaints.

But the survey gives competitors a chance to say what they thought and have it be anonymous, so this will be when we hear the most negatives.

Which is fine.

I look forward to getting the feedback while dreading it at the same time.  I will be disappointed to find out if we messed anything up and maybe a little bit hurt by some of the comments.  But I want to know if there were mistakes made so that I can figure out how to prevent similar mistakes next time.  I want to hear what people didn’t like so that we can plan for what needs to change.   I think the contest gets better every year, but it can always be even better.

I started my “List of Things to Do Differently Next Year” while I was still at the contest, sitting at the ticket table.

Just for the record, these things are just my opinion.  I will change the things I have control over, but things about scheduling, judging, etc., aren’t up to me.

Here’s a few of my ideas:

·         Bikini Check-In should be changed to 9:30 or 10am.  There’s no reason for those girls to be there at 7am on Saturday and then have to sit around for 5 hours before they get on stage.

·         There needs to be a way to measure the height of Figure and Bikini competitors prior to the day of the show.  We had several move from one height class to another after being measured at registration, which just complicates the line-up and judging and everything.  I understand that weight fluctuates, but height?  We need an accurate height for each girl earlier in the registration process.

·         We need to start on time.  Enough said.

·         There should be a time limit for how long a group of competitors stand on stage.  Maybe 30 or 40 minutes?  I don’t know of any reason why the judges couldn’t make their decisions within that amount of time.  Of course, I’ve never been a judge, so maybe I’m missing something.  Actually, I think that the entire system of judging needs to change.  More on that later.

·         I need to make signs to let people know about ticket prices and that we can’t take credit cards before they wait in line and then find out they have to go use the ATM across the street.

Oh, and could somebody please help me remember to buy a hand stamp?  Because this was the third year that I forgot, and I’m done writing on people with a Sharpie.

So, what would you change about the contest if you could?