ON THE ROAD TO RECOVERY....

So for the past 4 days, I’ve been in Toronto, Canada getting treatment/therapy for my Achilles. It’s been some pretty intense days with everything from ultra sounds to various injections to hyperbaric chamber therapy.

About a week ago, while I was doing my research about the various treatment options, I decided to come to Canada to seek the help of one of THE best Sports doctors around. He has treated many, many superstar athletes, many whose names you’d very easily recognize. The normal protocol for a partially torn Achilles such as mine is 4-6wks in a non-weight bearing cast with crutches, followed by another 4-6wks in a weight-bearing boot, followed by the beginning of physical therapy. A very circuitous, tedious road at best and then the results are not the best as far as the strength of the tendon anyway.

Dr. Galea is world-renowned and he employs a completely different approach that yields far better results in far less time. As it turns out, he lived up to all the hype and then some. He’s a very charming, laid-back, cool, unorthodox guy and it was my distinct pleasure to meet him. He took great care of me and I will forever be in his debt and if all goes well, I should be walking without casts, boots or crutches in two weeks time and beginning my PT.

Now back to this hyperbaric chamber therapy. I have one word for it – NIGHTMARE!!!!!! I don’t know if any of you are claustrophobic but I am. Without going into the details of why this type of therapy is extremely beneficial, let’s just cut to the chase – you have to stay in this glass tube, fully enclosed, lying on your back for an hour and a half!!! Suffice to say, I STRUGGLED, Lord have mercy and I had to do it 3 days in a row!!! The second time I did it, I had a bit of a panic attack and almost freaked out.


Me in the "torture" chamber, lol! Yeah, that's a fake smile....when they were just about to pull me out!!!

I can laugh about it now, but trust me, it was no laughing matter at the time. And then just to add insult to injury, for two 5minute intervals while you’re in there, you have to put this oxygen mask over your nose and mouth. I can assure you that unless there’s life or death involved, Jackie Edwards will never put herself through that again, lol. My dear friend Joice, told me to "quit being a drama queen", but I’m sorry Ms. Joice, just based on your description alone, the chamber you go in does not compare neither in size nor in experience – there are no books or laptops or anything at all allowed in with me – not even my earrings!!! And even if it is, oh well, I won't deny the fact that I was really afraid/nervous/scared....

Anyway, I did have one free evening and my roommate Erica’s parents, whose home I stayed at, took me to Niagara Falls. It was a great break away from the rigors of the therapy.


Me and Erica's mom at The Falls

I do want to say that the Witter family has gone above and beyond in showing me kindness and hospitality and I will forever be grateful.

I’m on my way back to LA tomorrow. Treatment is done. The healing process officially begins and I for one couldn’t be happier.

MY ORLANDO TRIP

So I've finally made it back home! I spent the last week down in Orlando and I had a REALLY good time:) Nothing wild and crazy happened, nothing life changing but I got to spend time with some of my most favorite people and so for that reason alone, the trip was superb. I hadn't seen Brooks since he came to my Hall of Fame Induction in November and I hadn't seen Dave since he came out here to LA a little over a couple months ago. Even when you talk to and BBM someone all the time on the phone, it's not quite the same as seeing them in person and you don't realize just how much you've missed them till you see their dimples smiling back at you:)

It felt good to be back with my old training group again too and it almost felt as if I had never left. I felt like I was on a training vacation! I pretty much did nothing during the days except just relax and get ready for practice in the afternoons. I didn't even turn on my computer one time while I was gone. I hadn't been back to Orlando for several months and so it was good to see Randy and Aub and Joel and the gang and all I can say is those guys still know how to make me laugh.

We had Friday and Saturday off practice because Dave, Brooks and Randy went to North Carolina for a coaches' clinic. I wasn't sure what I would do on those couple days but as luck would have it, one of my good friends, Chris Spencer, just happened to be in Orlando for this Celebrity/Pro Baseball Charity Golf Tournament for those couple days. So on Friday afternoon, I headed over to Ginn's Reunion Resort and Golf Course and let me tell you, this place was amazing. The baseball guys know how to do it big!!!
I rode around the course with Chris' playing group and I got to drive the golf cart, which I had never done before and I had a lot of fun doing it. I felt like a little kid, lol! Later that evening there was a dinner and a comedy show and I got to meet Ken Griffey Jr., Jacques John, Eddie Murray, Dave Winfield and Bobby Bonilla to name a few and my friend Kenny Lofton was there too. It was great to sit around and listen to these guys trade old locker room stories.

Me and Ken Griffey Jr.


I spent Saturday watching football all day and on Sunday a 2pm practice time was thrown in there. I was like, "Does Brooks not know the playoffs are going on, lol?" Yeah, he could care less! Anyway, unfortunately my trip to Orlando came to an all too quick end. You know that old saying about time flying when you're having fun...well it flew and I had to bid everyone adieu yesterday. It's back out to the track for me tomorrow as I continue to get ready for either a couple indoor meets or an early start to my outdoor season. We'll see. Anyway, hope you all didn't miss me too much and really and truly it is good to be back...

FINALLY BACK AT HOME.....

I'm back in LA finally after what can only be described as a whirlwind!! Honestly, I think we fit more in one week than I normally would fit in a month. On Friday alone last week, I took four flights and was on four different islands in The Bahamas. Talk about island hopping. We wrote the book!!!

We got to go to Inagua, an island that was heavily hit by hurricane Ike and also to Cat Island, another island in the chain of 700 that encompass the entire country and one which I had never been to. In both places, we were treated to performances by the local school kids and they truly were the highlights of our trips.



On Saturday, we had more autograph signing at Robin Hood which is a Costco type place. That was followed by another luncheon and finally that night, the big awards banquet which the Prime Minister of The Bahamas, the Rt.Honourable Hubert Ingraham attended.




I would have to say one of the most memorable moments that night was when two of my teammates, Debbie Ferguson and Chandra Sturrup were awarded their respective gold and bronze medals from the 2001 World Championships in Edmonton. In light of the recent stripping of major medals from Marion Jones from all events during that period of time, both Debbie and Chandra were moved up one spot to their rightful places, Debbie from silver to gold in the 200m and Chandra from 4th to 3rd in the 100m.


It was really touching and our Prime Minister awarded them their medals ceremoniously on a makeshift podium replica and the National Anthem was played for Debbie. It in no way makes up for the moments in the spotlight that they were due at the time of competition but it was extremely moving and I have to say that my eyes welled up a little.

We ended the night on a high as we let our hair hang out literally at the infamous club Aura in the Atlantis hotel.

I'm not sure what time we left but suffice to say, a good time was had by all!

Now, guess what, it's time to get back to training. It's amazing just how fast times flies when you're having fun...

PHOTO BLOG

Just wanted to do a mini photo only blog to give you an idea of what I've been up to. It has been EXTREMELY hectic to say the least!!

Entry way to the Atlantis Hotel lobby


My teammate Debbie Ferguson and her husband Adrian


Me and my teammates getting ready for a boat cruise


Me, 2007 high jump world champion Donald Thomas and Chandra Sturrup on the boat


At the Royal Bahamas Police Headquarters


Photo op with some high ranking police men and women


Luncheon at Government House with the Governor General


Some of the guys striking a pose outside the House


Picture of the ocean from the bus en route to a function in Grand Bahama


Me and my teammate, 2001 400m world champion Avard Moncur before dinner event in West End, Grand Bahama


School Rally


Some of the school kids


Picture in front of "the castle", the home of one of my teammates' grandfather.



Only two more days to go....

ON THE GO.....

So the past few days have been somewhat of a roller coaster. Right now as I type, I am at home in The Bahamas, on Paradise Island. I don’t know if any of you have ever been here before, but I’m staying at the Atlantis Hotel.


This hotel is world renowned for it’s grandeur and beauty and it’s casinos and restaurants and pretty much everything in between. This is the view from my room. Pretty nice!!!


I am down here for a week of celebrations and functions that my entire Olympic teammates and myself will be attending. Every year, the government flies us all home and we attend numerous events from church services, to breakfasts, luncheons, and dinners, schools, Government house, Parliament, parades and to some of the other family islands. Tonight we will be going on a boat cruise around the island. I’m sure it’s going to be loads of fun and I’m looking forward to it.

On Friday last week, I attended a function at my alma mater, Stanford University where all of Stanford’s Beijing Olympians were being honored. There were 48 current and former Stanford athletes who competed in Beijing! We won 25 medals, 8 of which were gold and represented 9 countries. That’s pretty impressive in my opinion! Anyway, so we had this event on Friday afternoon and I was one of the two athletes that they asked to speak. Ted Robinson, one of the NBC announcers during the Olympics was the host of the event.

I was rather surprised that I was asked because we had so many medalists, etc. Nevertheless, I took the privilege of speaking to heart and gave what apparently was one of the best speeches that I have to date and I’m just glad that I was able to touch so many people with my words and my experiences.

On Saturday night, I went to a “track party” back in LA. It was a lot of fun. Maurice Greene, former world record holder in the men’s 100m and current Dancing with the Stars contestant was there showing off some of his moves:) and I had fun hanging out with some new and old friends.




I was hurting in the morning though when it came time for me to catch my 6:30am flight here to Nassau. Suffice to say, I don’t even know when the plane took off because I was asleep before I sat in my seat.

Anyway, the next few days are going to be extremely hectic so I might not be able to do any updates. We’ll see I guess…..

SPRECHEN SIE DEUTSCHE? - DO YOU SPEAK GERMAN?

So I'm in Germany, Munich to be exact visiting my really good friend Valerie. I got here late last night and I'm happy to report that I slept through the entire night and just got up about 10 minutes ago. That hasn't happened for me in over two weeks. If I knew that just flying to Europe would have brought me a full night's sleep I would've done it a long time ago:)

I've known Valerie for about 10 years now. We were both bridesmaids at my best friend Peggy's wedding, who I co-own Urban Safari Design with. Valerie is a woman like no other that I know. She is African American and I met her when she was doing her Masters and PhD at Stanford years ago (she did her undergrad at Princeton- yeah she's that type of crazy smart!!) Her doctorate was in something to do with Aeronautics and Astrophysics if I'm not mistaken and she used to run track with a best in the 100m hurdles of 13.00 if I remember correctly which is not too shabby!

She used to design jet wings for Boeing and then one day she decided she wanted to work in the German office of her company so what did she do, she taught herself German in no short order and not the "where is the bathroom?" and "how much does that cost?" kinda German, I mean the kind where she can communicate perfectly well in an office environment, discussing technical things. Beyond impressive if you ask me. She's now learning French and so travels back and forth to Paris for intensive classes all the time. I speak French pretty well so it'll be fun to chit chat with her in another language.

Did I mention, she owns two BMW motorcycles? Yeah she used to ride them all the time when she lived in LA and DC. One's a dirtbike and one's a big racing bike. I'm not sure but I think she left them back in the US. She actually rode one of them all the way from San Francisco to LA when we went to Peggy's wedding and I took her suitcase with me on the plane, lol!

One time I rode with her to the mall and when we got off I had the distinct impression that people were staring at us wondering what two buff black chicks were doing riding such a big bike. I think we looked like a "couple", if you know what I mean, lol for real!!!!

I've been to visit before so I know the lay of the land. I'll be going shopping downtown once I get cleaned up and then later on I'll be having dinner at this great Italian restaurant around the corner.

Anyway, I love Val. She's a free spirit and a go-getter and lives and marches to the beat of her own drum and I'd do well to take more than a few pages out of her book while I'm here.

TEAM DISNEY

I just made it back to Orlando last night and suffice to say, I was EXTREMELY tired. It has been a whirlwind the past couple weeks full of emotion and disappointment and highs and lows and highs again! First, my own Olympic Trials which didn't go as well as I had hoped and then one last chance at redemption where everyone who potentially could be on the Bahamas Olympic team had to go to Cali, Colombia to compete in the Sr. Central American and Caribbean Championships.

Once again, I didn't do so well, finishing 5th, but because I am the only jumper from the Bahamas who has met the distance standard requirement of 6.60m within the qualifying period, as set by the International Olympic Committee for jumpers from all countries to meet, I ended up being chosen for my team. To say that I have not been stressed and anxious would be an understatement of great proportion. Even with the confirmation that I had made the team, very little relief came. I could barely sleep the night after the competition because I just kept replaying my jumps over and over in my mind.

Now that a few days have passed, I am feeling a lot better and much more hopeful about what lies ahead. I have 6 weeks or so to hone my technique as best as I can and because I have been able to do so in the past, I expect that I will be able to do so again. So I am going to forego going to Europe to compete prior to the Games. Instead, I will just get back to work and continue to do everything I possibly can to rectify my problems and be at my utmost best come August 17.

So, then came the US trials and all the drama and the intensity that that entails. I was almost as nervous for my own competition as I was for my friends and training partners who were vying for spots on the US team. In the end, Tiffany Ross-Williams won the women's 400m hurdles and David ended up winning the men's 110m hurdles. I swear the day of David's races I was just a bucket of nerves and I couldn't calm them until he was safely across the finish line, victorious. I have seen the hard work and dedication that both Tiffany and David put into their training and so if for no other reason than that, I couldn't be more happy for them. It's gonna be great to get to share this magnificent experience with them both.

The only person from the group left with an opportunity to qualify for the Games is Joice, who competes in the British Trials this upcoming weekend. I will say a prayer and keep my fingers crossed for her to do her best and join us in Beijing.

Until then, I thank God for seeing it fit to allow me to fulfill my dream this year of becoming a 5 time Olympian. I know that the members of that club are few and so for that I am truly thankful! Now I need to not just be a participant. I don't want that, don't need that. I need to get back to basics so that I can be competitive too and improve upon my 6th place finish in 2000. Work starts at 9am tomorrow morning at Walt Disney's Wide World of Sports...

HOME SWEET HOME!!

Just a quick check-in to let you all know that I made it home safely yesterday. The one hour flight from Orlando to Nassau was barely enough time for me to flip through my magazine and doze off before it was time to land.

Usually when I come home I am overwhelmed at just how humid it is here, but I guess because I've been in similar weather for the past few months, it basically felt the same.

I went straight from the airport to the track and did a warmup and I felt really good. I did find out that this year I will have more competition than I normally do because apparently there's a collegiate girl who has been jumping pretty well and so I really have to have my act together tomorrow. I expect to do very well and anything short of that will simply be unacceptable!

Our Trials start today with the 100m heats and finals, men's LJ, heats of the men's 400m,etc. I'm probably not going to go out there tonight just to be innundated with questions and answers about how I've been and what I've been doing. Everyone means well, but with a big day ahead of me tomorrow, I need to keep my focus and if that means sitting quietly tonight and watching TV or whatever, then so be it. I'm sure I'll catch up with everyone tomorrow.

Anyway, so that's it for now. The next time you hear from me, I will hopefully have some good news to report!

CRACKBERRY

Eb The Celeb....you called it!!! This blackberry stuff is out of control!!! I have talked so much trash to my friends who own blackberries over the past months. I kept telling them to get off their phones. Stop pinning one another. Stop checking it every second. Join in the conversation. Enough already!!

My friends David and Joice both own blackberries and they have been on me to get one for quite some time. It really helps when you're traveling to be able to communicate with everyone, they said. I resisted for as long as I could and then like I said on Monday, I ended up getting one.

Suffice to say, since then I have been using this thing like it's the last phone on earth. In my own defense, I have had to spend a fair amount of time just trying to figure out how everything works and on the first night I didn't know how to turn off all the bells and whistles and so all through the night the phone kept going off and I was really getting annoyed so I ended up just turning it off altogether. I have since figured out how to turn it to just phone only.

Yesterday at the GoTV photo shoot, between EVERY take, when I had to wait for the set up for the next shot, I spent my time browsing around on the phone. It's definitely a great way to pass the time. Man it seems whenever you do a photo shoot, it always takes way longer than they said and you have to do way more takes than they originally told you. Patience is definitely a virtue in these situations. I guess that's why they pay the big bucks.....not, just kidding.

This week my training group has dispersed for various competitions. Joice went to Martinique, Aub will be joining me out here in California at the Modesto Relays and Dave and Joel went off to Qatar. The true outdoor season is upon us and we are all primed and ready to do our best. Nothing surpasses the expectations that an athlete puts on herself and I definitely will accept nothing short of my best effort.

Anyway, since everyone has traveled from here to there and everywhere, it's a good thing I have this blackberry now so I can keep up with them all..... How did I ever manage??

TRAVEL UPDATE

So tomorrow morning I'm getting up early to travel back to L.A. I am going back for a couple weeks to compete in two track meets, the first, the Modesto Relays this weekend and then the second the Adidas Grand Prix Invitational at Carson, CA. I am looking forward to going home for a bit to catch up with all my friends and take care of some bills, etc. Trust me, living in two places at the same time does not come cheap!!! The things we do for our sport....call me crazy!!!

I get in at around 9:45am and then at 2pm I have a photo shoot for GoTV. They are doing some promo work for a new video feature that they have and they needed a long jumper of some caliber to use for the slow motion detail that is involved. I know I'm going to be somewhat tired from the travel but I am looking forward to the gig anyway. I can sleep tomorrow night, right?

Today I bought a blackberry. For those of you who know me, you'll know that I have little to no electronic/technological interest. So the thought of trying to figure out this gadget is somewhat overwhelming. I've already missed phone calls, texts, etc. I just don't know what all the buttons are supposed to do. There's texting, pinning, email capacity, internet, GPS, yada, yada, yada. I'm sure by next year this time, I will have it all down but in the mean time, if you call me and I don't answer the phone, chances are, I haven't figured that out yet. Bear with me...

I'll be headed back here to Orlando after the Carson meet but for now, LA here I come!

BACK IN LA LA LAND!!!

A couple days ago, I flew back here to LA to take care of some business - ie. register my car that I bought last month and pay some bills, but mainly to have a follow-up meeting concerning the huge interior design project that my company Urban Safari Design has upcoming in Malibu, CA. Things are still moving forward in that regard, and so my business partner and I are feeling very blessed and excited and that meeting is to follow later today! So wish us luck. Hopefully we'll still sound like we have some sense:) and it'll confirm for them that we were and are the right choice!!

I know that I am back in LA because only here can you go for your first day of track practice and who might you run into at the track doing stadiums and getting their workout of sorts in too but Kanye West and Common. Yeah, only in LA!!! At the UCLA track, I have seen so many celebrities but I don't usually bother them because I know if I were them, I wouldn't want to be bothered either.

I've seen everyone from Mary J. Blige, to Alicia Keys, to Venus and Serena Williams (and I find it imperative to mention just how distracting Serena's physique is!!! Even as a female, I just had to stop and take a look to try to take it all in.....it is something to behold, let me tell you:) Let's see...I've seen Ryan Phillipe out there, Boris Kodjoe, that girl who wrote Diary of a Video Vixen (Super___), you fill in the blank; Barry Bonds, Ryan Gosling was in the weightroom (he was in that movie The Notebook)and Denzel has been in there too...anyway, you get the picture, because the list goes on and on!

Suffice to say of all the people I've seen out there, the most memorable one for me is Mr. Sidney Poitier. He's been out there a few times and I have to admit that I did approach him to introduce myself and just simply to shake his hand. He is also from The Bahamas and so I used that as my "in", but I felt so honored to make his acquaintance. He was so warm and genuine and what made the encounter all the more meaningful was that I had just finished reading his book, Measure of a Man, which if you haven't read it already, is a MUST read. He gave me a hug and asked about my family, etc and I was truly humbled.

So, that's it for now. I'm here for another couple days and then I head back to Orlando on Sunday night in order to be back in time for practice on Monday afternoon. The outdoor track season is about to get underway and I am feeling ready. In fact, I can't wait and I haven't been able to say that in some time. Enjoy your weekends, wherever you are and try to stay out of trouble!!

PS. Since I wrote this blog this morning, I went to UCLA to practice today and who should I see...yet another celebrity...Mr. Jack Black!! He was out there filming some stuff for the upcoming Kid's Choice Awards that he is hosting this weekend and it's being held at Pauley Pavilion on the UCLA campus!! He sure is funny!

PPS. Here's a picture from the other night when Joice, David and myself went to dinner in Orlando with some kids from Nova Scotia, Canada who have been down there training for a few weeks. We had been helping out with coaching and mentoring and their coaches treated us to a dinner before they headed back to Canada. We had a great time with them and Dave provided all the entertainment:) It was truly our pleasure to help them work towards and hopefully realise their dreams both on and off the track!