I think I did pretty well...

So, this weekend was lovely.  My mom and I drove up to Maine, in time for me to weigh in.  I was at 143 pounds at weigh-in time, which meant afterwards I could go stuff my face with a delicious steak, mashed potatoes, asparagus, and crusty buttered bread at this marvelous little fine-dining place.  If that restaurant had been in Boston, we would have spent at LEAST $30 for each dinner, before adding drinks and tip.  As it was, we only spent $30 total before tip, and we did NOT eat cheap.  After that we were quite stuffed, and went back to our motel room.  Mom called my godmother in Nova Scotia, and I finished the smutty little H/D sketch I'd been doing in the car.  (I'll post that later.)  Shortly, however, I was overcome by fatigue and the massive dinner I'd just eaten and fell dead asleep to dream of the smutty little things I'd been sketching.

About 2 hours later, my mother woke me up, and we walked to the nearby Dunkin' Donuts for coffee and juice.  Mmmm... iced lattes. 

Well, it was a good thing I napped, because I couldn't fall asleep again.  Nerves.  We stayed up and watched the Law & Order marathon because the baseball game had been rained out.  Bah.

This morning, I was up bright and early, showered, and we were at the meet before 8:00 AM.  In that pic, the competitor's seating area is in the middle of the picture (those rows of folding seats).  The warm-up equipment is on the left, and the competitor's platform was on the right.

This being my first meet, I decided to go light, as people had suggested.  You know, just to use this as a learning experience.  In competition, you have to pick your starting lift-weight, and then you can go UP in your next two tries (you get three), or stay the same if you can't go any higher, but you can NOT go down.  So, if you start too high and you can't do it, you're screwed.  I picked a starting weight of 165 pounds.  And no, my stomach is NOT that big.  When benching, it's good form to arch your back, because you get more power.  So, my back is arched pretty high there. 

Anyhow, 165 was easy, and so was 175, which tied the New Hampshire state record for my weight class.  So, obviously, I had to try to break the record, which I did here, at 185 pounds.  (That's an actual motion-video of the press, so you can see me in action.)  I put that up very easily, completing my three record-presses.  When a person sets a new record, they're allowed to make a 4th attempt in order to better the record.  It won't count for the meet's scoring, but it counts as an official attempt if you want to set a higher record.  So, I tried a 200 pound press as a dare.  Well, I was wound up like a knot, and when I went to arch my back, my left hip-flexor cramped.  I almost got the press up, but my whole form was screwed because I couldn't arch my hips properly. 

Regardless, I won my weight class, which was the 133 to 148 pound women's juniors (ages 20 to 23), although I would have won the Open age class (any age permitted) had I chosen to enter in that category. 

Bench meets (and any Powerlifting meets) use a scaling factor to compare lifters of any weight.  They use this to determine the overall best lifter of the meet.  A really small person could possibly beat a huge person who lifts twice as much, because of the way it scales.  Anyhow, when all the numbers were tallied, and the awards were being given out at the end of the meet, I walked away with both the 1st place in my category, and also the Best Overall Lifter award. 

So, that was my weekend.  Loads of fun.  Now, I have to go back and do it again.  I have to get the 200 pound press, of course!