My First Weightlifting Competition

getting ready for the clean and jerk
squatting it out

ready for the jerk! I nailed it!

Yeah!

My fans: Sarah and Ashley

Another fan: Trainer Jill from the Y!

Coach Bob: introduced me to the sport

Won my first medal: 3rd place!

getting a good back crack :)

So as if my life weren't crazy enough, I decided to start training for my first competition all while moving and raising four kids (one of which was a biter and banned from the playcare at the Y). I have always been a competitor and love working out. I decided to become a runner. I trained my butt off in the beginning of the year for the La Jolla Half Marathon with one of my trainers, Doug, and a friend of mine, Isa. It is one of the hardest half marathons in the country with a huge 600 foot incline right in the middle of the race that was a mile long. My goal was to finish in under two hours (and also to beat my friends, remember I'm competitive). Well I accomplished all of the above. Shortly after the race, I met a man named Bob.

Bob told me I wasn't a runner. Initially it hurt my feelings. Of course I was a runner. I trained really hard for that race and did rather well. I'll never forget this quote that he said to me, "You can't turn a pitbull into a greyhound. You'll never amount to anything as a runner." He told me I was built for weightlifting. So slowly, he introduced me to the sport of Olympic Weightlifting. I had never heard of it or been exposed to it really. It took a while, but then I was hooked. I bought some weightlifting shoes and a singlet and committed to competing in my first competition after only a couple months of training.

I was a nervous wreck the day of the meet. I dropped weight consecutively week after week before the competition. I was the lightest lifter in my weight class. (a real disadvantage). I had a serious case of stage fright. I went to do my first lift, the snatch, and completely bombed. You get 3 lifts so I tried again and bombed the second lift too. The bar was set at 48 kilos and just minutes before in warmups I nailed a 50 kilo lift. On my third attempt I made it! It wasn't my prettiest or best lift but I made it up. Initially, the lift was disqualified. Then I had to go out and do my 2nd lift. I was pretty disappointed after the first lift and felt a lot of pressure to perform well on my next one. I didn't want to disappoint Bob who spent countless hours training me for free for this competition. On the clean and jerk I started with 61 kilos and nailed it. They added two kilos to the bar, for 63kg, and missed my second attempt. Finally, I made my last attempt and went out with a bang.

When they called me up for the medal I was so surprised! I took third place! And the first place winner was a 24 year old who had been lifting since she was six. And the 2nd place winner had been lifting for about 9 years. Both girls had impressive resumes and championships, etc. So I was pretty proud of myself after only a few months of training.

Anyhow, I have fallend in love with the sport and have discovered a new talent! It's been really great for me. My body fat lowered by 4% from 18 to 14 since starting weightlifting and I never have to run again! Sometimes I miss it, but I seriously LOVE lifting heavy weights. It is such a release for me. I have a new coach here in Utah and hope to train for future competitions. I'll keep everyone posted.