Show Day - Finals

Now where did I leave us? Oh yes, the wait for the finals (routine + awards presentation) due to the 2 show format! Of course Ali and I were both wondering how we went but the hardest part about the big break between shows was continuing to hold out on water! Not so much the food, although the chips with gravy at the RSL did smell pretty good! We took the opportunity to relax with family and catchup with Ali’s friends who had kindly come to the show to support him.

I am not all that competitive by nature and certainly never went into this journey with any expectations (other than to be my best) but the callouts in the pre-judging had put the hope in my mind of a placing.... top 5 would qualify for Nationals but I was daring to dream of top 3. I knew how important it is with a two show format not to let your conditioning go imbetween shows and not to allow anything that has already occurred to affect your efforts for your second round onstage as the judges may not have cemented their decisions. I also think it’s a little unprofessional to guts it imbetween shows and turn up with a bloated belly onstage- I didn’t even think of this but apparently it happens?

So it was at this point I started to get a little nervous about my routine…! Especially after forgetting to move my hair in pre-judging I knew it should be up for the routine. I didn’t have a nice hair clip to use unfortunately but made do with a side ponytail! I didn’t mind it with the fringe so left it like this for the awards/posedown just for a change. Jon’s other figure novice competitor Loretta (dark hair, burgendy suit) and I took turns practicing our routines in the limited space we had backstage. We pumped up together and were instructed what to eat and when to try to bring out pump and vascularity. Loretta was so generous, she kindly shared her resistance bands (mine were too strong!) and supplies including Lindt chocolate with me!

Waiting backstage with the other girls to do the routines was a fun atmosphere. I went on third, just after Kristin whom I watched from stage right wing and (not so silently) cheered on! Seeing her having so much fun out there to an uptempo song helped calm my nerves and replace them with excitement for my turn. I had chosen Lady Gaga- Paparazzi for the 60 second posing solo and was very concerned about missing the fast moves at the beginning! I did make a couple of mistakes but improvised a little, covered them well and had heaps of fun! Robert Powell even said at the end of my routine that I had great presentation, wow! So after months of angst about it I’m glad the ANB requires routines and that I got to do a one afterall.

After going backstage, putting the stripper heels on again and the rest of the routines ran through we all filed back out onstage in a long line up once more. The announcement was that if you’re number was called, to please move toward the back of the stage…. Mine was called first…(family told me they were nervously wondering at the time whether or not this was a good sign!?) followed by four other numbers. We were the top 5 competitors in the class, I acknowledged and congratulated all the other girls as they left the stage. 5th place was announced … followed by 4th and these girls were presented with their trophies. All that was going through my head was my number #48 and knowing that the longer I didn’t hear it, the better- haha! So When it was announced that I had won third place, for one split second I thought ‘damn’, but then it caught up with me and I realised wait, I came THIRD in this impressive lineup? Awesome!!

Second placegetter (blonde hair, blue suit) had the most amazing set of legs and shoulders- I watched her win her novice tall class at the INBA comp the week previous to ours. Which made Loretta the winner- I couldn’t have been happier for her- in the few short days we had known eachother we had really come through a lot! She looked even harder and more vascular when she got onstage for the overalls and took that out too, Amazing achievement!

When Ali’s class came back onstage I honestly had no doubt in my mind that he would be the winner. I had to be careful so many times during our prep not to put too much pressure on him by always saying that he was bound to do well as a novice with his years of hard training, commitment and potential. He had been thinking of competing for the last couple of years and Im so happy that we experienced the journey as novices together and that I was there to see my champion take it out! Although the poor fella then had to hold on a bit longer to compete in the overalls for which he was also a strong contender. We were both so exhausted by this stage and when he came offstage I had his water and electrolytes ready to go for him- after a big kiss of course! ;)

Next issue- after the comp! (duh!) including what I ate post the show and have up to since!