Texas State Naturals Championship – Athlete’s Meeting
Tonight was the Athlete‘s Meeting for the Texas State Naturals Championship. Everyone was really pumped up (pardon the bodybuilding pun!) In this pic I’m holding my NPC (National Physique Committee) card and my height/weight card.
Biggest bummer? I SHRUNK AN INCH! Apparently, I’m 5’3″ and not 5’4″. Oh well; thank God for heels.
I sat with my posing team, Mel’s Machines. This is Melissa Merritt, my posing coach. (She’s pretty hot, huh?) She won a ton of competitions and 
has the most amazing personal life story. One day I will have to interview her – you’ll be inspired. Earlier today all the girls on her team went to her house for our spray on tans. We joked around that it was our naked party because you have to be fully nude so you don’t get weird tan lines.
This is Elizabeth. She is in bikini, but obviously not the 
old folk’s division, like me. Her boyfriend is competing too.
The meeting started at 7pm but a bunch of us got there early. There were a lot of competitors!
Drug testing was done yesterday for locals and today for out-of-towners. Each person was randomly selected for either a polygraph test or urine sample. (I had to pee in a cup.)
Blythe Goodin was in charge of the testing. 
(Now aren’t you glad I took a picture of her instead of the urine sample?) 
Anyone who fails the test doesn’t get to go on stage. I really like the idea that the people here are “natural” competitors and don’t take steroids. As you can see by the people in the crowd, you really don’t need to do that stuff to look fit.
And speaking of fit, this is Madelyn Moon. She is a fellow blogger (MoonFitness,) goes to my church (Austin Stone) and also babysits for me. 🙂 
The person running the process was named Martin. He’s from Kentucky and is really funny. Amy from my pose class said he likes to crack jokes under his breath while the comparison poses are going on, which helps the competitors relax.
Amy has been competing for three years and is in the figure division. This is Amy.
And this is the other girl from my pose class, also in figure division.
I also ran into my friend, Carla. She was in my pose class with Adela Garcia for the first competition I was in. She competed in seven (7) shows this year! Her boyfriend, Doug, is also into bodybuilding.
And, of course, through it all is my hubby, Henri 🙂
But where, o where, is Daniel, you ask? HOUSTON! He moved there last Friday – boo hoo! So I’ve been having my friends at 24 take pictures of my front and back poses all week and sending them to him so he can coach me via text. Ah, technology…
But he helped me to find my new coach, Mel, so I’m pretty excited about embarking on my new training adventures.
(But don’t worry – I have a stockpile of dumb things I said to him that I can post at a later date.)
Will post more tomorrow. Wish me luck! And good luck to all the other competitors too!
Lisa
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