Our Story
Our final competition was in 1990 in Nobeoka, Japan where we had been invited to compete in the International Natural Body Building Championships. All of our competitions have been against drug free competitors. At that contest we were the oldest couple in the show. Karen was forty-three, and I was fifty-eight. Though she was almost twice as old as the nearest competitor, she finished third in this international show. I only garnered an honorable mention, but we had a great time, and we loved Japan.
Couples competition was our favorite event. We beat some great couples. Talk about togetherness! We posed to the sounds of "Memories" from the musical "Cats". I still can feel our moving together on the stage whenever I hear those haunting refrains. First place trophies are nice, but they are really just confirmation that the time and effort you put into your training was right and productive.
The reason for going over the stories of our competitive days was not to impress you with our showings but rather to bring out the incredible change that exercise made in our everyday lives. Karen went from a child afraid to stand up in school to recite her class assignments to a woman who has appeared on T. V. giving advice on training with weights, lecturing in auditoriums, and competing in bodybuilding on an international level. What she loves most, though, is the one on one personal training we have been doing over the years.
I went from a fat little boy, inept at any athletic endeavor, (who was used regularly for a punching bag), to a man that broke all the battalion physical fitness test records when I was drafted into the Korean Conflict. I have had many tests of strength and courage during my lifetime. Three times in my life I have had to do battle with leaders of youthful gangs and three times the gangs backed down.
For many years I trained Show horses. My specialty was training 'trouble horses". A "trouble horse" is an animal with bad habits that frighten its owner. You can imagine the strength and skill it takes to make a twelve hundred pound horse do something he doesn't want to do.
I detailed the metamorphosis Karen and I went through to illustrate to you what two people, who did not have a great beginnings, can do if they have the motivation and determination to CHANGE their lives.
There is nothing magical about what we accomplished. All it takes is a willingness to improve the condition of your body and the discipline to follow a common sense program to achieve that goal.
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