And the Winner Is........

We all want to hear our name being called out as the winner....no matter what it is. Whether you are a seven year old hoping you won a coloring contest or you are 38 and competing in a NPC bikini competition.
" CANDACE HARMON!" Whooh! First place in master's, now I just have to wait and see how I did in the open (all ages) division in my height class. "And the 1st place trophy goes to, with her second win of the night, CANDACE HARMON." Wow! I am feeling good. I won the Optimum Classic back in 2010 and here I am again repeating in 2012. At this point I am excited, but no time to celebrate. I have only a few minutes then I go back on stage to compete against the Class B winner. A lot of things are going thru my head at this point. I have never competed for overall and really want to sweep this show. I am motioned to join the class B winner on stage at which point the head judge takes over and tells us to do our front pose, back pose, walk 5 steps, then walk back. "Swagger" I think, "I have to bring my swagger". I have no idea what this chic brings to the table so I have to leave everything on the stage. After a very brief minute of posing, the judges make their decision and the results are announced. " the  winner of the overall trophy and title of Optimum Classic's 2012 Bikini Champion goes to CANDACE HARMON".
 I am thrilled! My first overall win could not have come at a better time. Jr. Nationals is only 5 weeks away and this will just boost my confidence. Granted the show was small, but the competiton was good. My trainer and I did so many things different with this show and it was either going to fail miserably or hit the mark. Well, it hit the mark. I could not be more satisfied with the way I looked regardless of the competition. I received some good feedback from the judges and will hopefully take this version of me to Chicago. I would love nothing more than to have a top five finish there, but I am going in to WIN!

Here are some pictures from this weekends show.