I had taken six months off from the training this year, so I was especially concerned about how well I would perform this year. Since no one else was competiting in my age and weight category, it meant I was only competing against my previous year's highest lift of 303 pounds to earn the state record again.
After watching four hours of bench press competitors and their awards ceremony, it was finally time to warm up. I kept my warmup to a minimum, only going up to 185 to save my strength and energy for the stage. As with every competition, my stomach was in knots before the first lift. I chose an easy first lift just to get on record for this year. 236 pounds felt easy. The butterflies in my stomach eased up as well. So up I climbed. I chose 275 for the second lift. I got it no problem.
Everything was riding on the third lift. If I got 308 pounds, I would beat my own record, set a new state record and earn a forth attempt. I had never lifted that much before, but it too went up easy. At that point, I was feeling good.
For my last lift, I decided to go all out. I had already met my goal for the day, if I was able to get the last one, it would be great, but if not, I had already set the record and won a first place award. It would also be my last time to set this record because next year I will enter into a new age category. So I went for 319 and I got it! That last lift was a little slower than the previous three lifts, but I didn't stall out midway or anything and I was excited to have done four successful lifts.
I won the state record, now I'm going to Disney...er, I mean worlds! I have been officially invited to participate in the world competition in Las Vegas this November. With a little fundraising and a whole lot of training, I just might be able to pull it off!
