We are getting more more acquainted with world travel. Argentina has been added to our list of countries that we have traveled to. It took about 27 hours to travel from our home to the hotel in Argentina where the 2012 GPA World Powerlifting and Benchpress Championships were held November 29th - Dec 2nd. When we arrived, we were so tired that we crashed in the bed and slept for three hours. That nap refreshed us enough to manage the rest of the day.
Weigh-in was the next day. 11:00 am comes around late when you are starving and can't eat until you've weighed in for competition. The plane ride was very long because we couldn't eat normally for fear of adding to our weight.
Weigh-in was fine for me. I weighed 50 kilos (100 lbs). My husband had a little problem. He weighed 76 kilos. Oops! That's one kilo over the limit for his weight glass. This put drastic weight loss tactics into play. Poor thing. No food. Very little water. He wasn't able to eat until about after 5:00 pm. The afternoon weigh in session wasn't until 3:00 pm. He had to sweat it out. A sweatshirt and a hot steaming shower in the bathroom equal weight loss. He managed to sweat and spit off 1.5 kilos to make his weight class.
Competition day was wild. Being in a country where you can't understand the language is challenging. Having the whole competition announced in Spanish and portions of it translated to English kept us confused. We had a hard time keeping up with who's turn it was to lift. Nonetheless, we managed.
As it has been in the past for me, I was the first women's lifter. I stepped on the platform, positioned myself on the bench, grabbed the bar and pressed my first attempt for the World meet. It was good as was my second and third lift. Each lift set new American and World records. This positioned me for a gold medal or first place medal for my age/weight class. Yay I have won for the USA! I did attempt another record setting lift that I missed. Oh well, I'll get that and more at my next competition.
My husband had a very competitive day. When it was over, he placed 2nd in his age/weight class. It was a very respectful finish with a personal record, American Record, and a moment of setting a new World record. He was just edged out for the World record. He represented the USA well.
We stayed on a couple days after our competition to watch our fellow American full power lifters compete. It was busy but fun. We supported and helped each lifter as they lifted. I also took pictures to memorialize what would become lifetime achievements for some.
The area we were in was farming country. The Pampas region is very flat with very few trees. We had a long ride out from the airport in Cordoba, Argentina to the hotel in Villa Maria, Argentina. The culture in Argentina would take a lot of getting use to. They takes siestas in South American countries. At times it was hard to find food to eat at times we are use to eating. We managed to find a local market where we could find food and other necessities.
We traveled home with our new medals and rested for a while.
We were able to collect pledges for supporting us during our competition. All pledges collected were given to the Southeast Gwinnett Cooperative Ministry on behalf of Stronger Than Hunger.
We have started our training in preparation for the upcoming APC Georgia State Competition in March. We hope to set new records or at least personal records there.
For now, we are back to our normal routine and, every night I look forward to seeing my husband's face walk through the door.
