A 48-year-old Murrieta woman will take the stage at a Venice Beach bikini contest with her new, fit physique on Labor Day.

Patte Hughes has been training for the past five months to be in the final Muscle Beach Bodybuilding and Figure Model Contest to be held this summer.

"If someone would have told me I’d be doing this a year ago, I would have thought they were crazy," Hughes said in a recent telephone interview. "This is something I never expected to do at this stage in my life."

Hughes – a divorced mother with two daughters age 13 and 14 – briefly modeled in her youth, but she has never entered a bikini contest.

Hughes manages Gilligan Grove avocado grove in Oceanside, where she has worked for the last 12 years. Her fitness coach is based in Murrieta. Hughes is a volunteer team captain for the Make-a-Wish Foundation, which provides outings and other experiences for ill Riverside County children.

"I’m a wish granter and that is a huge blessing," Hughes said. "I have volunteered part of my life at the Fallbrook Hospice. It is important to help others when time opens up in your life."

Early this year, Hughes – who was seeking some abdominal workout advice – met fitness trainer Tara Pflaz of Agape Fitness in Murrieta. Pflaz has boasted that she can train anyone to enter a bathing suit contest. She trains fitness advocates for other competitions that include boot camps. She also teaches people about nutrition.

During an initial examination, Pflaz said Hughes’ thin stature called for her to gain more muscle mass. Pflaz taught Hughes a core fitness regime, which Hughes took home and continued to use on her own.

The pair parted for several months and reconnected in April after Hughes received an e-mail about one of Pflaz’s weight-loss challenges. They reconnected and agreed that the challenge was not geared towards Hughes’ fitness needs. They contemplated a different program that would benefit her body type.

Pflaz suggested Hughes train for the Venice Beach bikini competition.

"I thought she was crazy," Hughes said. "I began making excuses like I couldn’t afford to train. I was a single mom. And I didn’t think I could Advertisement

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Pflaz went on to tell Hughes that the training would put her in the best shape of her life.

"She was talking over all tone, and still being feminine," Hughes recalled. "I said I would like to do the training but I don’t know about the competition. She said I would be doing it for a reason."

Pflaz took Hughes to the first of the three Muscle Beach bikini contests held annually.

"Some contestants were really young," Hughes said. "It’s so different when you’re 20."

Hughes then confided that she would feel more comfortable competing against women her own age.

"I still wanted to do it, though, and I wanted to do it there at Muscle Beach," she recalled.

Muscle Beach is known worldwide as a place where visitors and area residents can keep in shape using seaside workout equipment near the boardwalk.

Fitness and body-building competitions can draw large crowds and cause exercise buffs to drop their weights and cheer for the swimsuit-wearing contestants.

The existing competition categories were segregated according to height, so Hughes lobbied for a rules change. She contacted event producer Joe Wheatley via Facebook and asked him if he would include a group that is judged by its age rather than height.

Wheatley agreed to add the 35-plus Women’s Master category and Hughes decided to enter the contest.

Pflaz then directed Hughes to change her diet, start taking muscle-building supplements and begin lifting weights.

"The muscle-building routine was very effective because I got her eating, eating, eating," said Pflaz, 43. Pflaz herself had won second place at the Labor Day Muscle Beach bikini contest in 2008.

"Don’t let age get in the way of your goals," Pflaz said. "Any body size can be completely re-sculpted from any condition."

Pflaz plans to be backstage with Hughes during next month’s contest. But the work is already done, she said.

"She’ll never be the same," Pflaz added. "I recommend everyone do this at any age. The journey between the diet, training, and building your confidence – the whole package – is a life-altering experience."

Hughes said she is looking forward to her day in the sun.

"It’s true living in the moment," said Hughes. "Challenge yourself, and not against anyone else in this world."