I accomplished my goal

I didn't win and I didn't even make in the top 5 but I still accomplished my goal of competing in a bodybuilding contest.

The day started at 7:45am with contestant meeting. There were 138 contestants both men and women.

The women's classes were first and there were a lot of different classes. The men's classes didn't begin until late in the morning. I think my class of men over 45 went on around 11:30am.

Friends Jason, Andrea, Bunny and Amy had all showed up. I gave them instructions to cheer and shout out my number. It was great help to hear their voices out in the crowd. I didn't wear my glasses so I could see much past my nose.

I was second to the last in the line. I was not asked to move to center which is a bad sign. There were a few guys who were definitely bigger than me but I thought I as least had a good lean look.

The morning session is the actually judging and we, the contestants, go through a series of mandatory poses and comparisons. With so many competitors, the promoter decided not to do the choreographed routines in the morning. I thought the routines were part of the judging but that proved not true.

I was still hoping I would at least be in the top 5 even though I knew I wasn't going to win. The evening show for the men didn't start until after 8pm. Our group of "Masters" were the second group on. We all got to do our routines. One guy in my group did his routine with a large white python...a real one. It was quite the surprise.

My routine went well. Marlin, Christine, Allison, Tom and Rachel were at the evening show. After my group was done, I was done. I met up with my friends in the lobby and we headed to Old Chicago for beer and pizza roles. Yummy!

The whole experience was great. I did it and I think I did pretty good.

No pictures yet but when I get some, I'll post.

Thanks to everyone who supported me along the way.

The wall has been hit?

Finally kind of hit the wall on workouts and clean eating. Less than 3 weeks to contest. Between business travel and business stress, I'm running close to empty.

Took the evening off from working-out and had a custard and fruit tart for dessert.

May not sound like a big deal but I've been at this too long to mess it up now.

Six week comparison and Six weeks out

As many of you know, part of my 50th birthday year is competing in a bodybuilding contest. I'm in the seniors division which is euphemistically called "Masters."

Here is a comparison picture. On the left is six weeks ago when I started dieting and cardio. On the right is today. There are six more weeks to the competition.

I'm around 199 lbs in the left photo and 193 lbs in the right photo.