I think after my adrenaline has come down to a decent level, I can finally find words to express my thoughts and feelings on this past weekend. Saturday, August 8, 2016 was my very first USAPL powerlifting meet. It was the Iron Works XII I had no intentions of breaking records, or even doing well in placing. My main focus was to go for the experience and a starting point as to how a meet is run, listening and getting used to commands, etc. I really just wanted to have the experience with my mom and learn from this to maybe decide if I have the fever to continue and make this my extra circular activity to attempt to do something with. Since my dad died, I had been in this place of fog. The fog wasn’t heavy but I feel like that it continued to follow me rather than me moving forward to leave it behind. I was starting to take 2 steps forward ad too many to count back. Most of the time, I was like a fish out of water, trying to catch my breath, waiting for someone to save me. When, really I needed to jump back in the water and save myself. Other areas of my life I grew as a person in a sense while others, I was severely lacking putting me on the brink of something that could turn my life upside down. So, my expectations of what I would do at the meet were not any at all. All I cared about was going 9/9 on my lifts and coming out with a path and a direction. I have been toying with a powerlifting meet for a little over a year now so when my mom decided to hope on the gain train and do one, what better opportunity then share the experience with her. Training prior to the meet was not what I would call training at all. I would call it casually lifting every day, bodybuilder style and really not knowing what the heck I was doing, hoping, just hoping my form was going to be fine. The morning was a little scatter brained because as a newbie to the actual event, the time frame before the actual lifting begins is unknown. Generally, as a spectator, you don’t see that portion. I decided I would get there a little early, set up our tent. Oh, that’s right I didn’t mention----IT WAS OUTSIDE! I also wanted to make sure that I had time to complete everything before lifting began. It was already a little warm that morning and the sun wasn’t out yet but it was a comfortable temperature. Being in the SHW class sure did have its ups and down. The Up side was that there weren’t many of us and the down was that we were the last flight to go. By mid-afternoon, it was a scorcher. It made for a very long day and we didn’t get done with the meet and awards until 8:30p.m. My Oma (Grandma) brought my daughter to watch for a little while AND my bestie came with her son to show support. Seriously, I am telling you guys that I have THE best people in my life. I am fully convinced that this meet was just what I needed to build confidence and faith in myself again in order to take me to the next steps. With that, one of the emotional moving things about the day was going for my final deadlift and a man who has believed in me from day one and has been a local inspiration was the judge for that lift. As I bent down to grab the bar, I glanced up at him and he said “let’s do this.” Eye to eye, I picked the bar up and set it down. It still gives me chills and fuel to this day. I have to give a shout out to my husband because I would not have made it through that day if it wasn’t for him. He was the photographer, the lift off for my bench, the lunch provider and the most rewarding part was that after the first lift, he picked the rest of my lifts so that I didn’t know what I was lifting. I let go and put all of my trust in him for a couple of reasons. I knew that A) he would never let me fail B) he wanted this just as bad as I did. When I lifted my final lift of the day and saw all 3 white cards, I looked at him and his face was the most precious priceless thing I have ever witnessed. My lifts for the day looked like this: Squat: 90kg, 95kg, 105kg all white on all lifts! Bench: 52.5kg, 57.5kg, 62.5kg all whites on 52.5 and 62.5kg. Two white and one red for 57.5kg because I didn’t wait for the racking command BUT two whites still counts as a good lift! Deadlift: 130kg, 132.5kg, 147.5kg all whites on all lifts! This also means that I placed first in my weight class and was the only person in my weight class to get all white lights. So, I am sure this begs the questions as to where I go from here. Well, I have already teamed up with Jason Ralya from Ralya Performance and we are just about one week in on training towards some goals. I didn’t make a weight loss goal and I didn’t make a strength goal because the real goal here is to become mentally healthy with food. Once I establish a health relationship, we will begin to evaluate my strength in relation to what goals need to be established in order to start putting up some numbers to do big things with. Baby steps folks. The best part about having him is that he is kind and is relentless on helping people meet their goals and is wise beyond him. I am truly happy that I made the decision. My next meet is November 5th (birthday weekend) in Mt.Morris! I look forward to putting up some decent numbers and going 9/9 again. Stay tuned friends! ****SPECIAL NOTE**** I also want everyone to know that my mother did an incredible job. With the heat, jitters of her first meet and a newbie at powerlifting, she did amazing. She also got first in Masters 2a class so she brought hoem some hardware. I am incredibly proud of her and how far she has come. It moves me to tears to see how happy she is when she lifts. LOVE YOU MAMA!
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