CRAIG PRODUCTIONS LLC

America, I haven’t been ignoring you, contrary to rumor.  But…I have been AWOAGE (absent without a good excuse) for over a month!  My last blog was June 7^th.  Actually I’ve got a lot of excuses…don’t know if they’re good or not but I’ll get to em one day. 

Yesterday (Saturday, July 10^th) was the Oregon State Bodybuilding Championships.  I went down to do Dre’s show as I hadn’t done it in several years and promised him I’d do it this year.  I’m also heading to Jeremy & Tonia’s show, the Washington State, this coming Saturday.  Ya’ll better be there – it’s gonna be off the hook as Jeremy is having a Vegas theme.  Hmmm…maybe I could go as “Belvis” (think for a sec, America…you’ll get it…).  N-E-Whoo…Dre’s show was great!  Had a good time seeing all the regulars and meeting new competitors.  I did okay…didn’t quite dial in the way I wanted but I lucked out and won my class.  Got killed in the Overall though, but lemme start at the beginning as this was quite an interesting experience…on par with the trip to Bend with Todd Scott and me.

So I ride down with Guy and Marga Overby.  They were nice enough to allow the brotha to sit in the back of their BMW, but I had to take my shoes off and have on clean socks before I got in.  Just kiddin…they actually allowed me to eat oatmeal in the car as they picked me up around 5:45 AM Saturday morning.  America, the last time I got up that early I was 23 years old and in the military!  Not even Halle Berry could get me to wake up that early…well…okay…maybe Halle…and Beyonce…but I digress!

The morning show goes smooth.  I did my thang, Guy did his, and a couple other young ladies who I worked with, Keri and Haley, did theirs as well.  After prejudging, Haley asked me what time the night show started.  I didn’t know, but Guy chipped in, “Starts at 7 pm.”  We were good to go, so we all headed out to the hotel.  Once we checked in, I went to Subway and got my usual foot-long double meat turkey on 9-grain honey oat – hold the mayo, cheese, and oil please. 

I went back to the room, and between bites, practiced my routine. I decided to go slow this time – throw an old-skool ballad love song at em by The Dells – “Stay In My Corner”.  Since I’d posed to this song 10 years or so ago, I knew it’d be easy to choreograph, so I only needed a couple of days before the show and 25 times or so Saturday afternoon.  After about 15 times through I had it nailed, and had half the sandwich down which was enough for me, so I took my usual post-prejudging nap at about 3:30 pm.  At 5 pm I get up, start working on the other half of the sandwich and continue practicing for another 45 minutes or so.  Guy texted me at about 6:10 and said they’d be ready to go in about 10-15 minutes.  “K”, I shot back.  A few minutes later I got the text, “We’re on our way down”, so I headed down.  Met em in the lobby and we were off to see the Wizard!  It was a nice, leisurely ride back to the venue, America.  We’re laughing, joking, and having a good time. 

We pull into the parking lot and I notice an abnormally high number of cars for such an early time.  I make an off-the-cuff remark..something like – “Man, there’s a lot of cars here.  Wouldn’t that be something if the night show started at 6 and we come rolling in late?”

Guy laughed and replied, “No worries…it starts at 7”.  Marga finds a parking space quite a ways from the entrance.  Just as she turns the car off, my cell rings. 

“What the heck…,” I say.  “Who could be calling me…?”  I see its Keri on the I.D.  “What up, Baby Girl?  You inside?”

“Dave, where are you?”

“I’m out in the parking lot…we just pulled in.  We’ll be in in just a minute…”

“Dave…they’re calling your name!  You’re up next!”

“WHAT??? WHAT TIME DID THE NIGHT SHOW START?”

“It started at 6…”  America, I couldn’t get off the phone fast enough!!  “Guy, the night show started at 6 – not 7.  We gotta get in there.  They’re calling me now...Marga – I need my bag, quick!”

“Marga’s like, “Huh??  What??  The night show already started?”  Guy’s sayin’, “Pop the trunk, babe…we gotta get our stuff…I coulda sworn it started at 7…”

I grab my bag and I’m pullin’ a Usain Bolt – making a mad dash for the entrance which is like a mile away (okay…it was more like a block, but it seemed like a mile…).  America, Usain Bolt I’m not – I’m an ole black man with two bad knees, an artificial hip, a case of scoliosis, and luggin’ a gym bag full of crap tryin’ to run across a parking lot – not a pretty sight to say the least, and outright comical looking back in retrospect!  I started out like the hare, leaving Guy in the dust, but ‘bout halfway there that ‘bear’ jumped on my back and by the time I got to the backstage entrance I was barely upright and holding onto the walls!  Oh…and Guy had passed me…and HE was a huffin’ and a puffin’ as well! 

I enter backstage and literally EVERYONE says, “Dave, they’ve been calling your name.  Where you been?  You’re up right now!”  My class was lined up America, and I was the first one scheduled to pose!  I literally jumped out of my clothes, grabbed some oil, but the expediter said, “Dave, you’re up – no time for oil.”  I dropped the oil, ran to the music guy, said “Hit it”…and went out and rocked the house.  If you didn’t know any better, you’d have thought I’d been there all along.  I was on automatic when I hit the stage, America – even with everything that had just transpired I was still able to pull it together and make it do what it do! 

But the reality of what happened hit as soon as I walked off.  It was then that I realized that Guy was in the Master’s 0ver 40 – the class BEFORE me!  That’s right America…Guy missed his class.  As ecstatic as I was that I’d got there in time for my class, it was bittersweet because my friend missed his.  I felt so bad for him.  But God is good all the time, and all the time, God is good!  Guy thought he’d been DQ’d because he missed, but that wasn’t the case.  He also thought he wouldn’t be able to pose.  But Andre truly is a great promoter.  He allowed Guy to pose in the other category Guy had entered – Open Men’s Light-Heavywt.  Everything worked out just fine.  Like Ice Cube said, “Today was a good day…”

I learned a couple of good lessons from all of this America.  One, the responsibility to know what time a show starts falls squarely on each individual.  I do not blame Guy.  And I definitely don’t want him to feel bad about what happened.  But just as I teach all my people that they are ultimately responsible for literally everything that happens, so it is with me.  I simply didn’t check.  I promise it won’t happen again!  Oh…and in case you’re wondering if Haley showed up on time, she did.  She checked with someone else and verified the correct time.  Did I mention that this was her very first contest…shame on me!  

The second thing I learned (well…I already knew this…) is to be ready for anything when it comes to your routine.  I’ve said it before, your routine needs to be so nailed, that an earthquake could happen and you’d still be posing.  Speaking of that, one of the middleweight competitor’s music scratched, skipped, and stopped.  He didn’t miss a beat!  He just kept on posing and got great audience response.  Didn’t blame the music guy or anything.  He knew his routine so he did it.  That’s what I’m talkin’ bout!

Hey, I’m out America…still gotta get up early and knock out that first session.  I’ll holla at’cha later this week…promise.  You know this to be true, because after all…I am “The Dr.!”  Peace…

David “Dr. Buff” Patterson

Personal Training Systems

“There Are No Shortcuts!”

 www.personaltrainingsystems.net 

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Don't give me excuses...give me results!

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