I just arrived back from the Pittsburgh Pro at 5am yesterday morning and then went straight back into work and into my normal routine. I am very exhausted! I loved the Pittsburgh Pro and although there were many disasters, I am still happy to have stepped on the stage as a pro and I now know what I need to improve on for my next show. Every thing you do in life, no matter if it turns out good or bad, is a learning experience, take everything you can from it to better yourself and return stronger than ever- this to me is what it takes to be a champion.
My pro debut started with many hours flying in a plane and as many of you know, when you are days out from a show flying on the plane is not the best. After stopping in LA, we picked up some chicken and steak to take on the way... next thing we know it is leaking all through the airport... meat juices leaking everywhere! Moe went to throw one of the bags away and people kept asking me if I knew it was leaking and I just replied “Yes he has gone to find someone to clean it up”, we then quickly ran through customs and then cleaned in all up with plastic bags on the carpet next to bins haha! Next time I think we will take some containers. We then proceeded to the gates only to find that apparently our seats had been taken but the flight attendants figured it all out and finally we boarded the plane.
Moe and I arrived in Pittsburgh many hours later, it is a beautiful city! We stayed in the host hotel and the atmosphere was buzzing with all of the athletes everywhere. I went to the competitors meeting that night and every woman looked amazing. It was awesome to see some of my inspirations in real life. That night I got my spray tan by Jan Tana and then got locked out of my room wearing only a big old t-shirt and guess who happened to walk past... Phil Heath. He was staying in the room next to me and it was slightly embarrassing standing there locked outside my room!
One of the highlights of my trip was sitting in the room with Adela Garcia (5x Miss Olympia Fitness) and Sonia Gonzales (Miss Bikini International 2012 and Miss Bikini Olympia 2010). They both are such beautiful people and helped me with my posing. I thank them both for their help and advice.
The day came around and I was ready to hit the stage but wait... my tan had gone green! It was only an hour before I was set to go on stage and I didn’t have enough time to fix it, I just had to go hulk styles and do it. To top it off, the makeup made me look like I had red dirt on my face and my hair style all fell out. Now if that’s not bad luck I don’t know what is. Every possible thing went wrong but I still went out there and competed. It was a great learning experience for me and one that I will never forget.
After pre-judging I went back to the hotel and Moe fixed up my tan so that I at least didn’t look green for the night show. After the night show we went out for a delicious dinner... now this was no ordinary ride to the restaurant. I was squished in the middle between Kai Greene and Moe ElMoussawi with Dexter Jackson in the front of the car. Now if you have never seen Kai Greene in real life, this guy is huge! He is also one of the most down to earth guys and kept apologising for squishing me. I had four plates of delicious dessert that night – post comp treats. We started to walk back to the hotel to catch our flight at 4am and we got lost. When we finally found our way back to the hotel, our taxi driver forgot to come so we nearly missed our flight. Running through the airport, Moe had to nearly save a woman from being crushed by a door, then we grabbed some post comp treats and we got on the flight just in time.
It was such a fun adventure and I am so grateful to have competed on a pro stage. While the result may not have been want I had wanted, there is a reason for everything happening to make me learn, to make me stronger and to make sure that when I come back to the stage again I will be better than ever!
Thank you NZIFBB for this amazing opportunity and thank you Moe for everything that you have done and for all of the laughs.
And thanks to all of you for your support! x
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