Vinny Vows Vengeance by Vinny Galanti, NPC Competitor Going into 2007 I thought that I would be entering my first IFBB Pro show this year. I never would have imagined the very bumpy road that I was about to face. A road that I don't wish to travel ever again. By now most of you know that I found out after taking 2nd place at the NPC Masters Nationals, that I had Lyme Disease. I woke up on Monday after the contest with my face all distorted, and at the hospital I was diagnosed with Bells Palsy, and the blood test came back positive for Lyme. I was very frustrated with my training and the lack of energy that I had while I was preparing for the contest. I was tired all the time, and if I heard, “Hey your 40 now. It's all down hill from here”, just one more time, I was going to go postal. The tired I was feeling was not the same as your typical precontest “get the fuck out of my face” kinda tired. Looking back, I'm very surprised at what condition I brought to the Masters Nationals. My condition was not even close to what I have been known to bring to a show, I was holding water and didn't look as ripped as I have been in the past. However, I was unknowingly quite sick, and I still managed to get in very good shape and place 2nd. I was banging my head against the wall trying to come up with answers as to why I would look great one minute, and looked like a bag of water the next.5 months later I am feeling great again, and my training is back through the roof. I never thought for one second of quitting or changing direction, it was hard but I decided to suck it up and move forward. Never give up is what we athletes aspire to, we dig deeper when it seems like we have nowhere left to dig. As the year comes to an end, and we look back at our bodybuilding goals, we ask ourselves did we get what we wanted, and did we finish what we started? I just read this quote, and must share it with you… “Every mistake we make walks hand in hand with a lesson to be learned. It's in these lessons that we find experience. Now, experience will come to you whether you want it or not, but it's completely up to you to take that experience and form wisdom from it.” I have to finish what I started, and so I must return to Pittsburgh again in July for the 2008 Masters Nationals... This journey is just getting started.