1 Week

Here we are one week away from my biggest show of this year, for my pro card.  Bodybuilding is just so hard in so many ways and its really why I love it so much.  I looked in the mirror about 2 weeks ago and what I saw is what I am used to seeing at the 3 week mark and it was at that moment I made a decision.  If I want to win, if I want that card I must push harder than I have ever, suffer like I have never and drive myself to earn that win.  That is what I am doing!  This sport I love makes you dig deep and learn about yourself things you may have never known.  When you are alone in the gym running on empty on that stairmill for 1 hour you think about what you are made of and where you want to go, the vision becomes very clear.  This one memory has been playing through my head and I want to share it with you.  I was 16 years old and I started to run road races and there was this hill I just could not run up.  Everyday it would break me and I recall sitting at the kitchen table with my dad telling him about it.  He put his hand on my shoulder and told me "Nunie, you are bigger and stronger than that hill don't you forget that. (Nunie is what my dad called me)  About an hour later I went out for my run and 30 mins into the run I found myself at the bottom of that very hill.  My dads voice played in my head and I started to run.  From behind me I could hear a voice shouting "Nunie you are bigger and stronger that this hill, RUN NUNIE beat this hill!  It was not a voice in my head but my dad in his car behind me supporting me and driving me.  That very day I ran that hill and never did it beat me again.  Competing has been "that hill" for me and in one week, like with that hill, I hope to claim victory.

Much Love
Nuriye :)