Ok well so me and my companion left at 300 pm hoping to get to the show at 500 pm, the mapquest prints suggested if everything went well we'd be there with a little time to spare. Well nothing goes according to plan if you're doing it for the first time and between the two of us we managed to get lost till 830 pm. A little before that we stopped at a college and used their library compute terminals to print out a new map that would guide us from the library to the event. That didn't work out either, the map we got from the library wasn't zoomed in enough so we couldn't find jack sh.it. Called Dad, he gave us new directions then called back later to apologize and said they were all wrong. It wasn't an apology honestly, it was just him saying we were lost and better figure it out. Gotta be thrown in the water to find out if you can swim right? That's Dad for yah.
It was around 600 pm I think that it started to rain and then really pour. Lost in Chicago in the fu.cking downpour. If we got robbed we'd officially be up sh.itcreek. Stopped at a gas-station so my companion could use the bathroom, and I asked the clerk in there for directions. He was really helpful and got us on the highway so we could back track and find our way back to where we screwed up and missed our initial turn. We found the places he told us to turn to get to the hotel, and then we got off the highway. Lost again, but confident that we had at least made our way like the mapquest map told us to go, now we were finally on the right track. We were where we would be if we hadn't had gotten lost for 80 miles previously.
We went to McDonalds to eat [I only packed whey, no carbs], we got some chicken finger things and I went in to ask for directions. My companion hadn't eaten since like 1200 noon and was freaking out pretty bad. Myself, I cursed that I hadn't brought carbs along but McD's is better than not eating at all. Inside the McD's, English was not their primary language if you get what I mean so we were still lost. Dude kept telling me to go back where we came from but from the mapquest directions it said we were were super close to the hotel where we'd spend the night. Went back out to the car to think. We didn't even have a compass in the car so we had no idea which was was North, the direction we needed to go, according to the map. The McD workers apparently never heard of the word "North." My God.
Then a woman knocked on my car window and asked where we were trying to go. Apparently she overhead our conversation with the mexican McD workers and thought she could help. I told her we were trying to get to the Rosemont hotel. She said something like "Sh.it, that's a 1/4 mile through those lights to the left." So thanking her, we went there and sure enough the hotel was there, reservations and everything. 7th floor room with a decent view, though not of the big city buildings. Snapped my first pic.
When we finally found the hotel we'd be staying at my friend stayed in while I went over to the event hotel, the O-Hare, and just poked around to see what was going on. Not much at that time, a booths getting set up and the like.
Slept like crap. Thinking about how I don't look like anything over the hotel. I mean I know dudes have been lifting and eating on target for 10 years but there was only one other kid there smaller than me. Kept thinking about how I was just nothing, a failure and how I really needed to step up my game and fu.cking get somewhere with my body. That and I didn't bring enough almonds and my usual bedtime routine was off and i don't know why but i was really freaked out about that. Companion slept fine but I didn't sleep much. He snored a little bit and when I told him on the way home he yelled at me that i was full of sh.it. OK FINE. Got a few hours sleep, was ready for breakfast and to get out of the hotel and see the event.
I had breakfast in the hotel [organic cereal, an english muffin plain, water, pills and of course my whey] and then shot over to the event hotel. From 830 till 1230 I sat in the contest room and saw the light-heavies to the superheavies. I found the event hotel on the first turn I made out the hotel lot, just kept going straight, under 2 bridges and tons of cop cars pulling people over. Big ass hotel right there, tons of glass and parked cars around. $25 to get in the parking structure, not too full. Got on the second level out of like 7 levels.
Wandered around for like 5 minutes just doing some recon of like how many people were there, the mood of it all and then went to get my show ticket. Was cheap, don't remember the price. Ticket and hand stamp by some guy in a wheelchair. Should've gotten there earlier, the seat I found was 1/2 way back. Decent enough but closer is always better.
First contest pic I took was of the finalists [of the pre-judging at least] of the light-heavy weight class.
Snapped a few more pics, these of the light-heavy weights, then of the heavy weights.
Not much difference i could see between the superheavies and the heavyweights. Big for sure but I was looking for some Cutlers or Ronnies in the superheavies. I think I have to go to bigger shows to see guys like that, I don't know. Didn't take any pics of the superheavies, they weren't much bigger like i said than the heavyweights. Honestly I saw bigger show goers then the superheavies. Some guys there, just huge. First guy I saw when I got into the hotel to look around in the morning of the show, black dude was almost as big as Ronnie, no kidding. I asked him about what was going on and where stuff was and asked if he was a guest poser or a competitor and he said no and I'd see dudes in the show that would make him looks small. I didn't see guys bigger than him. He was a monster, tall too, a little taller than me, 6'7" or so.
I was about 1/2 way back in the big room but I could see pretty good. As for celebs, I saw Dave Palumbo walking around in the front rows with all the photographers. Near the end of the show, Lee Priest walked out of the show and later returned to his seat way near the front. I knew it was him because of his hair, glasses and god almighty his arms. He's like all arms, that's the first thing I saw on him. And he's short too, but build like a tank. He walked past my left while I was on the aisle, I could have stuck out my elbow and hit him but I was just in awe that it was him and I didn't do anything.
After the event I went outside the hall and there were all the booths set up. I got a free t-shirt from the ABB booth [I looked for ON but couldn't see them but they were on all the banners and stuff hanging around]. A little chat about $90 little bottles of pills with the ABB guys and how I didn't believe in that kind of product, skeptical like. They did their pitch about how things have advanced so much and you can get some really good stuff if you want. Indeed. Dude told me he liked me so he gave me a t-shirt, I got to pick, I picked a white Large with red and black tribal stuff on the shoulder and back one of the big guys was wearing. Then they stuffed that and some pills and papers into a white bag.
I was thinking of you guys and wanted to take some pics of the hotel, it was really nice so I took some.
I looked around at the other booths but I just felt like a fish out of water so I with my t-shirt in my bag, I went back to my car in the parking structure. Took another pic of the side of the hotel building before I got in my car and drove off.
I picked up my friend and drove back home. On the way home we saw that we had overshot the distance by about 80 miles so on the initial way to the hotel we got
seriously fu.cking lost.
The drive home went perfectly, lots of construction on the highway, lots of tolls. 3 to get to the event hotel [the event hotel and the hotel we stayed at were actually 0.94 miles apart].
As for my thoughts, I liked the event. They looped a few Metallica, AC/DC and some other rock song together in one big song that played over and over. Ignored it after a while. Guys got on in groups according to weight class and did the mandatory poses, side chest and tricep, thighs and abs, back, lat spread, etc. They didn't give them much time to flex, each group of guys [1/2 dozen or so groups made up the weight classes so you'd see i don't know i didn't count, 50 guys from light-heavy for example] got 20 seconds to do all the poses, hold for 2 seconds then do a different pose. A few guys went up and the crowd went nuts like they were favorites and lots of crowd people shouted up advice to guys like 'face the judges,' 'hands on hips,' etc. Lots of good vibes in the room, everyone was happy I felt to just be a part of the event, never any booing or anything.
As for myself getting involved in the actual sport as per competition, I'm still a LONG way off from getting anywhere honestly. Years and years before i need or think i will want that kind of decision. Right now i want to get huge because it's a manly image, and i don't want to look like i fit in, i want to look huge and scary. Not deep philosophical reasons, but there they are. Way I see it, all those guys were winners up there, great legs, arms, the whole package. I mean I have no idea how the judges pick the absolute winner of the weight class. I could see how you pick one guy over and another out of 50 guys sure i can see that but to compare 10 of the best in one weight class against each other, that's gotta be hard to do. So if I come in 100% dialed in and my best sh.it is showing i might not even get 10th place. This is the future talking i mean and why set myself up for that kind of feeling? I don't need to prove anything to anyone except myself, that's why i work out, for myself, not for others. But who knows maybe in 5 years or so I'll want to compete, i have no idea.
Damn that was a big post.
