Eye of the Tiger

I think I just experienced the most shocking moment of my whole life.

Today was the eating contest, round I. This morning at work I told Michael about the beginning of Rocky II, and how Rocky approaches Apollo in the hospital to ask him if he gave it his all. And Apollo said yes, and that is all Rocky needed to know. I told Michael I am Rocky and he is Apollo and I had no intention of winning but just wanted to see if he would give it his everything, and he said he would. And I told him and my other co-workers that I was like Rocky, and all I wanted was to give it my all.

So I followed my meager strategy of hardly eating anything all day and then running for 40 minutes after work to try to get an appetite. I showed up at Michael's house and was nervous because 10 people were there to see me get destroyed! But I knew things were looking up when right before we started the song "Take Me Out" by Franz Ferdinand started!!! karma! So the eating contest began.

My buddy Chad gave me the tip to dunk my crust in water, so I did that and it really upped my speed. And somehow I just forged on through and to everyone's SHOCK I stayed neck and neck with Michael. Around piece five I felt SOOOO gross, but I didn't give up. When there were 3 minutes left Michael started feeling sick, and I kept going and ended up finishing THE ENTIRE LARGE PIZZA FROM PAPA JOHNS and Michael ended with a little over a piece left. It was S-H-O-C-K-I-N-G. Seriously. All of my male co-workers who had previously told me "find someone willing to bet on you and I will take them up on it" were shocked. I was shocked. Michael was shocked. It was insane. So it ended up being like Rocky I + IV since I (a) gave it my all (b) won and (c) ended the Cold War???

Michael was a great sport--even after I accidentally flung my cup of pizza water across the room (umm...that was disgusting)--and I told him afterward that I have a lot of heart, and that is what got me through.

The contest ended over two hours ago and I am still PAINFULLY full (whereas 20 minutes later Michael was eating more food...). Odds of my eating tomorrow are slim. Odds of my being able to sit without pain are slim.

BUT I WON!!!! My first ever eating contest!!!!