America's Strongest Woman: Day 1

Well, here we are in small town Texas.  Almost 200 strongmen and women have gathered in Denison, (a town you would never know about unless you live here or are on your way to Oklahoma), to battle it out in a best of the best competition.  Yesterday, all the athletes rotated through the official weigh-in, most of the men covered in layers of sweats in order to drop those last few pounds and carrying jugs of gatorade to rehydrate; picked up the Easter egg colored competition t-shirts; and attended a rules meeting in which the event start time changed yet again.  Speaking of which, I am not really even sure when we start tomorrow.  After being jammed into a shoe box sized room for an hour, most people lined up outside in the cold to get their height on the yoke, while some of us split for dinner.

The competition kicked off this morning with a group picture of pink and purple clad athletes, fans being asked to exit the event in order to pay $5 and re-enter, and finally Event #1, the axle clean and press away.  There were four bars set across the fence line facing the fans loaded with 135 for the light weights, 150 for the middle, and 185 for the heavy weights.  Personally, my goal was to get five reps, but I had trouble maintaining control at the top of my press and ended with only two.

Event #2 was the frame carry.  The light and middle weights shared the same frame and almost all of the athletes completed the forty feet without a drop.  Including the two heats, one of which was mine, that also had to beat the elements, a short rain shower.  Event #3 was a slightly altered deadlift event. The light and middle weights lifted 275 and 300lb axle bars while the heavy weights returned to the frame for deadlifts.  I am not sure what happened to the original car deadlift event, but after watching the men struggle with the cars, I am perfectly ok with the axle bar.

Day 1 ended with a brutal medley.  Three kegs were lined up at different distances along the forty-ish foot course.  All three kegs had to be hauled to an oversized metal wheel barrow, loaded, and then hauled together back to the starting point.  The final kegs were heavier than originally planned and a lot of women were unable to load them...including myself.  I have never in my life attempted to haul or load a 200lb keg and that shit was heavy.  In fact, on my first pick up attempt, I almost dropped it straight back down on my foot.

All in all, I may be sitting near the bottom of the middle weights, but I have had an incredible day being a part of this competition.  Simply being able to watch some of these athletes compete is motivation to continue training and come back bigger and better.  And I have enjoyed hanging out, laughing and joking with my Cali competitors as well as meeting new ones.  Bring on day 2!!!!