2009 MuscleMania European Championships Results

1st Place Ms. Bikini
1st Place Model
3rd Place Figure

Needless to say this was beyond my expectations. Excellent show production by the European federation president, Marco Zanetti. BBC was there covering the show and was excited to have an interview with them and be highlighted backstage and on stage by their film crew. And of course meeting all of the athletes!!! Happy to see old faces from the Italia show last year and plenty new international faces this year. The french male athletes came in particularly strong, one guy regularly attends the MuscleMania Miami Worlds show and once I can get pics up you will see why. The UKers, Spaniards, and Eastern Euros also had memorable show outs as well. I even met a Vietnamese Parisian BBer there! We had a good laugh that we must be the only Viets around on this side of the pond on the competition circuit (Asians?what??)

All weekend long I was so lucky to have my "coach", my supporter, the brains by my side when I didn't have any, my photography muse... Maurizzio. He was there to help me backstage for everything, always open and friendly with my fitness friends, shared many great Italian meals with me in Milan, my translator when dealing with all the photographers by phone and in person, and always helping me think about problems in the most positive way with my interests first and foremost. Maurizzio, you are so special to me and I'm happy that you are a part of my life. It means alot to me to have you here to share this experience and I thank you from the heart.

Immediately after the show I momentarily ended my suffering by plowing through a ton of chocolates, bottle of Champagne, lasagna, chocolate cake, bisquits, Kinder Buenos, caphrihna (sp?), then I passed out. So this morning I want to refocus the diet again but for some reason those tuna tins and carrots are not quite calling my name.....

Looking forward: with these wins I secured an invite to the World Championships in Vegas on Nov 21 weekend at the Golden Nugget. It's gonna be a hellish 6 weeks of preparation to get stage ready as the competiton standard is ridiculously high and my schedule leading up to the show is by far the most challenging I've had this year. I can pretty much see that my mental capacity will be nil until December once I'm settled after the move to LA. But hey, what is life without challenges?

So I'm going to sign off for now. I'm still sitting in bed in Milan and need to pack up for a shoot in Remini.

I leave you with a couple of my favorite quotes which will give me the strength to make it through the remainder of the year:

"How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time."

"There are no problems, only solutions."

"The only thing holding you back from your dreams is yourself."


-- Posted from my iPhone