Nationals Night Show Nov 22 2008!!

After a long night Friday is was back at it again on Saturday. Today was a better day I was feeling better after being very dehydrated the prior night. Dave took a look at Mike and myself at 11pm and told us to go have another burger with fries, which was music to my ears. The night before I was feeling like shit and barley ate anything after pre judging. Mike and I didn't even hesitate we walked out and went to the Hard Rock Cafe to eat. After the meal, it was back to getting more spray tan and relaxing until the night show came. The show started at 5pm but men didn't get on until 7-8ish, so Mike and I found a corner and laid down until they called the men in the back room. When they finally called us it was a relief I could finally get on stage and see where I stand. I knew I was top 5 and had to pose to my routine, so I was pumped because I loved my routine music and couldn't wait to get on stage. Props to Colette Nelson for helping put my music together, it came out great and I got a lot of good feed back from friends and fans that saw the routine.
Then it was judgment time, they called all top five guys back up on stage for awards. I was at the same place a year ago and I was called for runner up behind Jose Raymond. They called 5th place Lorenzo Jones, who took 5th place last year as well, then the competitor everyone thought was neck and neck with me Ronald Torres they called as 4th place. He and I were both shocked, Ronald was big, and thick as shit, but lacked a lot of conditioning and detail, that's what the judges wanted to see. It was clear they were looking for conditioning, because 3rd place went to Jeff Cook, and then there was two, Kam Gallam and myself. I just stood in my front relaxed pose looked up and said, this is it. And when I didn't hear my number called for second place, I had to turn my back to the audience because I started getting very emotional. I couldn't believe that I just won my IFBB PRO card. It was a dream come true, my dream since I was a kid to become a pro bodybuilder. My goal was never to compete as a pro, but to make it to the pro ranks, and I did what many thought I would never do, I walked away with 1st place and my pro card. Then following my win, my boy Mike Liberatore walked away with his pro card. We were both relieved and excited, it was nice to win with a friend I was close too. We all had a great time during the overall and the pose down, all the guys that won their cards were great and the comradery we all shared was great, it was like being in the NFL draft together, we all shared that common bond that night, a bond that will last a life time, we were all the new 2008 national class winners and newest IFBB professional bodybuilders.
After the night show there was a pack of us that all went out to eat at the Hard Rock again. There were a ton of friends and family there supporting me, and I thank each and everyone of you guys (you know who you are) for being there and supporting me, it meant the world to me to have the people I am closest with in my life share that special moment that will never be forgotten. There were a few people that couldn't make it to the show for certain reasons, but I know I was on their mind the whole weekend, and that alone means a ton to me.
After we got back Mike and I went up to Dave's room to wrap up and go over a few things for the next couple of days, with that Dave also had the score sheets and what was more flattering to see that Mike and myself both took straight first place across the board, so that made the win that much more gratifying. I couldn't be more pleased and happy with the outcome of that night, and it will forever be one of my greatest memories of my life and I was happy to share it with the people that were there with me, and also the ones that were thinking of me.
JUST LIVE YOUR LIFE!
GUY

Nationals Pre Judging Novemeber 21 2008

So it's been awhile since I wrote, so this will be a long one. Well, in 2003 when I first stepped on stage in West Virginia, I would have never thought I would be calling myself an IFBB PRO. This goes to show that anything in life is possible if you put your heart and mind to it.
A recap of Nationals weekend, here it goes. Arrived Thursday with my mother around 1:30pm, my boy Darrell picked us from the airport along with PJ who flew in around the same time as us. Darrell not only picked me up from the airport, but he drove from Alabama to Atlanta and brought me a microwave to use along with a Foreman grill, that boy went above and beyond for me. Thanks Darrell, I can't thank you enough for all your help that weekend, made my weekend a lot less stressful. Then that afternoon started getting my protan sprayed on (my girls Nicki, Carla, Jay and Deanna really hooked up with my tan...thank you girls so much for everything.) After getting 3 coats on Thursday I weighed in at 7pm and weighed in right around 175-176. I started carbing up two meals prior to weighing in but had to cut my water and not eat for about 4 hours to make sure I made weight. Mike Liberatore and myself went to weigh-ins around 7ish, Mike and I were together all weekend, pretty much did everything together besides sleep. As soon as I weighed in it was off to my room to start my carb up until I went to bed. Dave took a look at me that night and didn't change a thing, I was on point, full, and hard as nails so I just passed went to bed and waited for pre judging the following night. Thursday night before I went to bed Kris and Jen came by to say a quick hello since they're flight got in a little late, so it was nice to see them. Along with people there, the Darren Montanari (owner of Gold's New Haven) and Kenny Wallach (my posing coach) were there as well and came down to look at me and couldn't believed how I was looking.
Friday morning, I woke up and woke up looking plain nasty, I was striated from head to toe, by far the best I had ever looked in my life. My good friend Erin showed up Friday morning along with my sister and father, so it was nice to have a good support group with me. Erin brought her little goodies which are amazing (homemade Pb cups and Oreo cookie balls), I had to watch PJ eat them all weekend until after the night show when I could dig in. So after my first meal I went to get tanned, I had three appointments that day to get tanned before pre judging. So most of my day consisted of tanning, eating, and relaxing. As it got closer to the time we had to be onstage Mike and I went to the competitors meeting got our numbers and awaited our time to get on stage. Finally after all the waiting they called for the men backstage so I got myself together, and Kenny and I went to the pump up room. Right before I went onstage I always find a quite area and say a quick prayer, then Carla Solotti one of the pro tan girls (she's the only one I let oil me-my good luck charm) made my tan amazing with the secret sauce she used. Then I pumped up for about 1-2 mintues and lined up.
We all came out did our quarter turns and 60 second routines to no music the it was time for comparisons. First callouts came and I was called out along with Kam Gallam, Ron Torres, and Jeff Cook. They didn't move anyone around they kept me next to Ronald for the first round then flip flopped everyone, so I was then on the end not the middle. They only compared us once and we were done. I wasn't sure what to think, I knew I wasn't the heaviest muscled guy on that line up, but I knew I was the best conditioned hands down, maybe best in the show. There was a lot of talk about Ronald and I battling for 1st place, but I kept to my protcall and went out to eat a burger and fries after Mike did his pre judging. He was called out 1st round as well and there was talk that it was between him and Mark Alvisi.
Friday night came and gone pretty fast, I was shot at the end of the night, very dehydrated, almost got very sick from being too dehydrated but Dave fixed that with the help from PJ, a vitamin water and some salt. So that was Friday night. I will blog about the night show tomorrow...