Results

*Sigh*  Well, there's always next time, right?

In my Fitness Model class I didn't even crack top 5, and in Figure I placed 4th (out of 5 lol).  I stuck around afterwards to get feedback from the judges, and I knew before he even said the words: "you just weren't lean enough".

I knew this would be a problem for Figure, and didn't have many hopes of winning that category - especially competing in the Open division.  I was, however, a bit surprised and disappointed that I didn't do better in the Fitness Model.  The top 3 (back row) were the leanest on-stage, so that made sense to me, but of the remaining girls (front row), I thought I held up well against at least a few of them.  One third of our mark is based on presentation, so maybe that was it?

I promise to post more pictures in the coming days.  Just wanted to get a couple up right away.

Ok, so a more thorough breakdown now.

Things I was happy with:

-My tan!  Wow, I was so so so much happier with my tan this year.  No stressing about it backstage, it didn't rub off, and it was nice and smooth and even.

-My hair.  Love the colour, love the style.  

-My suits.  There are a couple things I'd change (the brown of the figure suit didn't show as well as it could have, and the top of my volcano suit could have done more for my ladies!)  But overall, I still love them.  They're my babies :)

-The process on the day of.  I felt prepared, I was all packed, I had practiced my routines and posing, I wasn't starving all day, and my time management was decent.

-The food!  No, not the after party lol.  I feel like I ate enough food so that I was able to keep my energy up, but not so much that I was too "full". 

Things I wasn't happy with:

-My makeup.  When the girl was here to do it, I asked her to match the colour of my tan, and she did.  But, it looked like crap.  It was blotchy and muddy looking (the face you see in these pictures is me with no foundation on at all.  I rubbed it all off backstage.  Believe me, my naked skin looked better than what was going on there before!).  The eyes and lips looked nice, but in the end were a bit too severe for the show. And the darn fake eyelashes she put on me were poking me all night!  

-My posing.  I think I could have done a better job of my front pose (especially for Fitness.... I looked too tense next to the other girls).  My face also started spasming at one point, for no apparent reason lol.  Maybe I need to practice holding my smile more?

-My placement.  Obviously ;)

So, this leaves me with the question of whether or not I should still compete next weekend.  This is a bigger, more serious show, and all the big kids will be out to play... and win.  Knowing that there's only so much I can do to lean out more this week, do I still go through the process (and pay all the money!), knowing that I'll almost certainly place last in Figure, and probably won't do so well in Fitness either?  I'm hopeful that if I make a couple changes to my "look" and presentation, I may do better in Fitness, but who knows.  It's something I'll have to discuss with my coach this week.  And my mom.  I know she really wanted to see me compete, and I really don't want to let her down.  Then again, if she wait for the next one then maybe I can show her a trophy too!

All in all, still a valuable experience.  I've learned so much more about my body and diet/training, my posing is that much better, I'm confident in my tanning now, and I have a better idea of what works for makeup and suit selection.  And if nothing else, this has lit a fire under my butt to work that much harder for the next show!  I never want to experience that feeling of defeat and failure again.  Never.  So I've just got to hold on to that feeling and run with it.