On Saturday, May 23rd I had the privilege of seeing one of my bestest friends knock a GIANT goal off her list.

Tyree has had a fitness competition on her Bucket list for several years now. Each time she has gotten to the point of competing, something had come up that didn’t allow her to see it through. And no… these roadblocks weren’t your everyday situations that come up.

Oh, No.

This is the girl who donated her KIDNEY to a friend 8 days before she was to go on stage for the May 2014 competition. Tyree’s heart is made of gold, my friends. Pure gold. You can read about that journey here: A True Hero.

Today’s post is finally about her achieving her fitness goal – to compete in the Heartland Classic Bikini Contest. And, for anyone that thinks competing in a fitness competition is a piece of cake, or maybe a little vain, I am here to tell you it is 100% quite the opposite. MONTHS of preparation go into something like this. Strict nutrition. Strict workouts. NO FUN FOOD. A lot of chicken, fish, green veggies, eggs and sweet potatoes. Some fruit in the beginning months. No fruit the last multiple weeks. Minimal grains. No red meat for a time span that made me want to cry.

No Sugar

Yep – I am out.

Tyree did it all. And she FREAKING ROCKED IT!!!

So, let’s recap the day of, shall we?

10am – Arrived at Tyree’s with FOOD that couldn’t be eaten yet, balloons and then the first layer of her tan.

For those thinking about competing some day – Jan Tana has great products for staining your skin. I say staining, because honey – ain’t NO ONE need to have that kind of tan on the regular. We used the foam based stain that was very easy to apply. But – USE GLOVES! That stuff is no joke.

After layer one had been applied we waited two hours before applying layer 2. And that is when the magic happened. Hellllllo very tan skin. Boy, if she didn’t already have white teeth, she looked like she did now! Next was hair and makeup. What I have found: I am no stylist. I only seem to know how to do my own hair at a very mediocre level. But the makeup? Oh, we had FUN!

Before.

After

Those eyes! <3<3

3pm: Time to go!

We ran into her parents first upon arrival. I am sure that helped calm some of Tyree’s nerves. There is just something about seeing your mom and dad that is good for the soul. 🙂

Then it was time to head backstage and continue the prep work.

Suit on, taping of suit (you don’t want that baby to move on stage, now), helping others tape up, tanning touch-ups, oil baths….

Ya, that happened…

Pumping up

Photo sessions with friends

And last minute posing practice before hitting the stage!

My role that day was to be her back stage pal, makeup artist, nerve calmer, shit gatherer, taper,tanner, photographer, videographer, name yeller when she was on stage “Smile, Don’t Hook, Butt Out, Let’s go TYREE, Looking good”.. you name it. I was her b!tch. 😉 And, I loved every second of it!

I also was a Snapchat QUEEN!

At one point a fella and I were in competition with each other… he didn’t know it, but it was to me. He would yell for his girl and I’d follow up with a yell to mine. Ya, I hear you and I one up you, my friend.

She competed in the Bikini Tall Open and Bikini Tall Novice. She also did a stage walk at the end of the night. All in all the competition took around 5.5 hours. I got a little delirious towards the end so can only IMAGINE what the competitors were feeling like…