Just saw this thread - been busy eating all day!
Thanks to all of you, I appreciate the props. I have been trying to win a show since 1989, and it finally happened.
Lori, thanks for posting those pics.
Honestly, I thought I looked better about a week or two before. I don't think the whole sodium loading and depleting, carb depleting and loading crap does much for me except somehow smooth me out a liitle. I should have just trained as usual, stopping legs a week out, and giving myself a day of rest to carb up a little more.
As for whether I was clean, here's one tidbit to ponder. My last non-tested show was the 2005 NPC New England. I weighed 209 there and was in about the same condition. Yesterday I weighed in at 194 pounds. That's FIFTEEN pounds gone from when I used AAS. Luckily, without the gear bloating my midsection, my waist was almost four inches smaller than it had been in 2005, so my overall shape was better. Some people even said I looked bigger.
As for my legs, they have always been big. They were the first thing that really grew on me. If my arms grew the way my legs do, they would be 22 inches at least!