Guest post by the road crew. Tawnya started out as my trainer in Jan '08 but I'm now happy to call her a friend. Some might even call me more than a friend based on experiences (the tanner, the tanner) these last few months but more on that later.
Sometime in Oct or Nov '08 she announced that she might try out for a figure competition. Actually she didn't 'announce it', more like tossed it out casually during discussions, 'yeah I was thinking about trying a figure competition this year'. You see Tawnya's not the 'announcing type', she's too modest for that. Tawnya has been a marathon runner for years but I think the thought of cold morning runs, especially the really long ones on her own wasn't that appealing this year so why not try something different. She doesn't do anything half way, nope, not Tawnya. So she chatted about it casually in circles and got down to the business of getting herself a trainer, and a nutritionist and started the journey. We exited 2007 with a fabulous steak dinner and a couple of bottles of wine proclaiming 'no more drinking or bad food or fun!'. Little did we know we'd end up spending Friday nights in roasting veggie and cooking marathons, BUT we did have some laughs, quite alot actually. I'm not only a road crew member, remember I'm a client so I decided I'd give up the booze as well and get to some serious working out and dieting myself, but that is a story for my own blog.
Things started out well, with lots of workouts, I think they call that a 5 day splits and lots and lots and lots of cardio. At the beginning time passed without much notice, weekly pictures and countdowns. She somehow made it to the 8 week (halfway) mark without cheating on the diet and never missed a workout despite working full time, being a mom to two amazing kids and being a great friend. This girl had NO time. I remember specifically the texts and MSNs as her new workouts and diet would arrive "Oh my gosh you won't won't believe this!!" I had barely gotten over the fact that she had to eat asparagus everyday, 12 spears no less, no more when they took it down to 10 and somewhere around the same time the stepmill was becoming her best friend. Oops did I say best friend? Yeah, not so much but it was appearing more and more in her workouts. I REALLY enjoyed hearing all about her plyo sessions with Mindi O'Brien, the 300's.. "She made you do 50 burpees!?!?!??!" and I'd laugh and laugh as Tawnya waddled away from me. Yup waddled cause her legs were done.
Of course those sessions were funny til I started seeing some things showing up in MY program. Quick excerpt from my blog Feb 12, 2009 titled "My trainer is a mean B*&^" "Now even though she is KILLING me with these workouts each time I stop to breath during a set she adds one more rep. I can't even tell you how many fucking pop squats I ended up doing." Yeah so who had the last laugh? Tawnya of course!
As we got closer the countdown became more exciting, 4 weeks to go, 3 weeks to go, 2 weeks to go. By now she was up to 2 45 minute session on the stepmill and what seemed like 2 hour workout sessions, actually I think alot of them WERE 2 hour sessions. Tawnya held up though, there was only that one infamous 'walnut' incident' but I won't give any details here, she already confessed to that one. The changes in her body were amazing and I even saw a glimmer of excitement as she saw the progress herself. She started posing practice and from the beginning she posed like a champ (move your arm, move the hand, stand up straight, belly in, push your quads together, squeeze that butt oy!) and she only got better as the time to the show closed in. My favourite were the pictures of her in her hooker heels and baseball cap, nice look T! By the last week it was a frenzy of getting ready, groceries and cooking and nails and waxing (oh the waxing) and arranging makeup and hair, the glam squad ROCKED by the way!
I had agreed to help her apply the tanning stuff she needed cause apparently you need to be black for the competition, I was thinking more along the lines of sun tan application, you know, the back, the arms, touching up places she couldn't see but the Thursday before the show she texted me while I was in a work meeting no less and told me I'd be 'painting all of her',
my response 'what?',
Tawnya, 'yeah ALL of me'
me 'what'
Tawnya 'yeah'
me 'I'm going to need some drinks first, and I really think you should buy me dinner or something'
People, have you seen these competition suits? Even then I had no idea what I was in for. At any rate she came over, we cooked, she stripped, I put on latex gloves and we got down to the business of applying the Jan Tana. I tell ya, there's nothing like seeing your good friend BUCK nekkid in your kitchen next to a pot of boiling asparagus. It didn't take long for the jokes to fly and the laughing was epic but we got it done. I wasn't very good at it that first time but boy the the 5th application at 6am on Saturday morning I was applying it like a German estitician, all clinical, lifting boobs and butt cheeks, standing back making her move around to check the eveness in the light. I still think she owes me dinner. ;-)
Then on show day we were up and out, I only got us slightly lost near the end, sadly it was me driving around trying to figure out where we were with only 15 minutes until they closed registration!! THANK GOD we made it on time!! Tawnya registered while I met up with the Glam Squad and met her in the change room. The change room was a sea of naked buff women getting ready who were for the most part really nice. Kara, one half of the glam squad was being watched very carefully by everyone cause as she progressed through hair and makeup Tawnya just kept looking better and better. Ever the relaxed girl though she was cool as a cucumber through the whole thing. We raced to the bleachers at show time for the morning pre-judging and our girl came out to hoots and hollers from us and I have to say we can make alot of noise. She looked fantastic! It was clear she had the best figure and her walk and posing were the MOST polished of all the women. She kept getting called back up first and moved to the middle area which I had heard was 'really good', with us screaming all the while, COME ON TAWNYA, GO 52, SHOW EM THAT BACK, WOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO YOU GO TAWNYA! She rocked the two piece round, AND the one piece round. In the masters round she didn't get called back up first, WTF people, but they did end up calling her up front yet again. We just KNEW it was going to be a good night.
After pre-judging we went to sit along the river and relax for a while, until the rain came. We barely made it back inside the school before the rain and huge hail came down in buckets. Had she been caught in the rain the impact on the tan would have been epic, thank god for timing and thank god for Michelle! (Michelle is the other half of the glam squad).
Evening arrived and Tawnya's friends and fans started flowing into the gymnasium to line the bleachers and the up front seats. They hadn't seen her yet but me and the glam squad, we knew.. haha Her son and parents were in the audience somewhere as well, it was a packed show!! We sat through bodybuilding and fitness cheering on alot of the competitors that we liked but then I saw her backstage, waiting her turn. Jesus christ she didn't even look nervous! She claimed she was but she didn't show it. She came out for her round, I heard her son said "HOLY SHIT" in front of grandma even! She did the best turns and the best posing and took first place!! The screaming and crying as we watched her get her trophy and pose for her winner photo, she looked amazing! She took 2nd in the masters round, none of us could figure that one out but who cares really, first and second, in your first show is an amazing accomplishment!!
It was an amazing day, we were all so very proud of her and she was even proud of herself. Way to go Girl, I don't know anyone that worked harder for that win or deserved it more!
Love the Road Crew
