Typically at this hour, 32-year-old Lacey Godkin will have worked up a heavy sweat. Not today though; she\u2019s taking it easy on the cycling and weights. Instead, as part of her preparation for the Arctic Muscle Fest, a bodybuilding competition in Anchorage just days out, Godkin\u2019s working on her \u201cposing\u201d with a trainer.<\/p>\n
Her trainer, Jamie Troxel, walks her through a front pose. While smiling into the wall-sized studio mirror, Godkin brings her feet together and hips back. Leaning forward slightly, she raises her shoulders to suspend her arms, revealing her pronounced biceps and triceps.<\/p>\n
Godkin has worked out almost every day for the past five months to get to this point. The physical transformation has come at an especially trying point in her life. Earlier this year, she said she was sexually assaulted.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always felt really tough, I\u2019ve always thought I could take care of myself and I was assaulted in March,\u201d Godkin said. \u201cI\u2019ve learned to come back to the gym after taking that week off and find that confidence again. I think that\u2019s why I really want to hit the stage because I deserve that. I could have just sat down and \u2026 let him take the power away.\u201d<\/p>\n
A night out<\/p>\n
After a family dinner in March, Godkin went to the Imperial Bar in downtown Juneau with some friends.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mom dropped me off, it was just gonna be a drink or two with my friends and then I was going to catch a cab home to be home with my boys and I woke up out Thane at 6 or something (in the morning),\u201d Godkin said.<\/p>\n
According to Godkin\u2019s court petition for a sexual assault protective order, she woke up in a stranger\u2019s car that reeked of marijuana. Extremely startled and distressed, Godkin asked the stranger \u2014 a man she said she had never met before \u2014 to be dropped off back at her car downtown. Godkin drove to her sister\u2019s house, and the two went to the hospital, where Godkin eventually received a rape kit.<\/p>\n
\u201cI could tell that he had raped me,\u201d Godkin said. \u201cI went straight to the hospital after that and they found bruises and hip contusions. That\u2019s why I had to take the week off, because my hip was thrown out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Godkin has since filed criminal charges and the case is pending at the district attorney\u2019s office.<\/p>\n
The alleged attack happened a month after she started training for the muscle competition in Anchorage. Godkin still had approximately 15 weeks of intense training before the competition. She was tempted to give up and move on from her goal.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was really distracted on the fact: \u2018Did I do something wrong?\u2019 Should I be putting myself on stage in this little bikini? Did I deserve that because I looked good that night, because my body had changed so much?\u2019\u201d Godkin recalled thinking to herself. \u201cI had to get over that blaming myself for what had happened. I had to place the blame on him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Godkin decided she would continue with her training. Getting into shape for the competition helped her heal from the trauma.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s where I go right now \u2014 the gym,\u201d Godkin said. \u201cMost people in my situation and the people I\u2019ve talked to that have been assaulted \u2026 turn to drugs or alcohol or they are a slug at home because they don\u2019t want to leave.\u201d<\/p>\n
The sidekick<\/p>\n
Troxel, 37, has been Godkin\u2019s trainer and dietitian throughout her body makeover. The women are small business owners, mothers and as luck would have it, neighbors. They chatted whenever their kids played in the street at the same time. In the fall of 2016, Troxel encouraged Godkin to enroll in her boot camp, a four-week fitness program she hosts at the Alaska Club.<\/p>\n
Worried she wouldn\u2019t have the time to take on a new obligation, Godkin obliged anyway. She could do \u201cmaybe three\u201d push ups before the first boot camp. Now, Godkin can pull off at least 30. Instead of leaving the gym tired and stressed for time, she left full of energy and motivated, ready to take on the day.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was up and ready to go to the gym once I started seeing results,\u201d Godkin said.<\/p>\n
Godkin got serious about eating healthy, too. For three one-week periods, Godkin cut out all artificial sugar, grain, gluten and dairy from her diet through Troxel-designed \u201craw food cleanses.\u201d It hooked her, and with Troxel by her side, Godkin stopped eating processed foods altogether.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d go to her house and I actually physically showed her how to cook clean,\u201d Troxel said. \u201cAnd then she would show me what she eats for the day and I\u2019d be like, \u2018Yes, that looks good, but where\u2019s your protein?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
One of the dishes she began preparing at home frequently was spaghetti squash, a healthy alternative to traditional pasta. The most important part? Godkin\u2019s 4-year-old son, Ryker, eats it up.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt first it was like, \u2018How am I going to tie this all in to family life?\u2019\u201d Godkin said of the healthier diet. \u201cI just have more snacks than they do now, mostly protein snacks, hard-boiled eggs, chicken, things like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Whitney Parks, 26, is one of two full-time baristas who works at Godkin\u2019s popular drive-thru coffee shop, Capital Brew Pump and Grind. She\u2019s seen Godkin\u2019s progression first hand.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t get over the progress that she has gone through,\u201d Parks said. \u201cI\u2019m kind of following behind her in her footsteps because it\u2019s something I also want to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Parks\u2019 statement is music to Troxel\u2019s ears. The 37-year-old bodybuilder and owner of Grumpy\u2019s Delicatessen is eager to start a club of women who attend bodybuilding competitions in the state and beyond.<\/p>\n
In October of 2016, Troxel won first place in the figure division at a competition known as the IronMan in Bothell, Washington. She\u2019d won a competition before in Alaska, but said winning in the Lower 48 gave her an \u201con top of the world\u201d feeling she couldn\u2019t help but want to share with others.<\/p>\n
\u201cI try to inspire these bootcampers to do a contest,\u201d Troxel said. \u201cI challenge them every time and I\u2019m like, \u2018Hey, you\u2019ve got a great physique, would you be interested in training for a contest?\u2019 \u2026 Lacey was one of those gals.\u201d<\/p>\n
Under the bright lights<\/p>\n
Some three days after Godkin posed in the privacy of the Alaska Club, the 32-year-old took the stage at the Wendy Williamson Auditorium for the Arctic Muscle Fest. As a pop song played in the background, four women contestants walked out from behind a tall black curtain.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet me bring out, Lacey Godkin,\u201d said a man in a deep voice.<\/p>\n
Godkin, wearing a white bikini, lipstick and the Ellie stilettos, takes eight steps out from the curtain, stops, faces the audience, and continues forward. \u201cGo sister!\u201d one hears on the cellphone video posted to Facebook. Godkin makes two more stops, making a backwards \u201cL\u201d on the bright-lit stage, before taking her place behind the lineup of women stage left.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the first time I\u2019ve ever been on stage like that \u2014 ever,\u201d Godkin said several days after the competition. \u201cI did the wearable arts show but you\u2019re not by yourself, you\u2019re with whoever made the outfit. \u2026 I ended up having to go out and pose by myself, it was a little bit different than we had practiced but it\u2019s OK.\u201d<\/p>\n
Godkin placed fourth in the Class B figure division.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was just the posing that is crucial when it comes down to it,\u201d she said. \u201cI got enough compliments from the judges that it was like, \u2018OK, they said (this sport) was in my genetics and in my body build,\u2019 and you could tell they wanted to see more.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
And that\u2019s what they\u2019ll get, too. Godkin is already preparing for another bodybuilding competition in late October.<\/p>\n
She\u2019ll undoubtedly be stronger this time around, both inside and out.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m more than happy to share my story,\u201d Godkin said. \u201cIt almost makes me feel like I\u2019m not alone.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u2022 Contact sports reporter Nolin Ainsworth at 523-2272 or nolin.ainsworth@juneauempire.com.<\/b><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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Typically at this hour, 32-year-old Lacey Godkin will have worked up a heavy sweat. Not today though; she\u2019s taking it easy on the cycling and weights. Instead, as part of her preparation for the Arctic Muscle Fest, a bodybuilding competition in Anchorage just days out, Godkin\u2019s working on her \u201cposing\u201d with a trainer. Her trainer, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":425,"featured_media":22671,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":6,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-22670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22670","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/425"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22670"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22670\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22670"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=22670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}