Nov 8, 2009
Good Evening Everyone,
So a bit of GREAT news........The Ralph Lauren web page is up and running and it is great!!!! The entire staff over at Ralph Lauren did a great job and I can not wait to see what comes next. Here is the link http://www.ralphlauren.com/shop/index.jsp?categoryId=3880779&ab=global_usolympic
Once on the web-site be sure to move the sound selection from off to on, on the web page itself. Have a look around the site, click on the meet the athlete tab, hightlite the athlete and you will find out information about each of us! Some of it is quite amusing!!!! I will also post a link on my web-page www.jessebeckom3.com
I am currently in Lake Placid rehabbing my leg while steadily weight training and running. Since I have been back my trainers and I re-evaluated what has been going on with my groin/abductor area. They have put me on a new rehab schedule that is focusing on the more supportive muscles in my leg that play a key role when I run and push, which seem to be the main cause of why I have been having this issue so long.
It is my opinion that after my lower leg surgery we concentrated on all the major muscles like my quad, hamstring and calf muscles and did not pay enough attention to the smaller muscle groups in my leg that help with stability that need to be firing correctly and play a key role when I run. Since we have identified this as a problem we now have a good place to work from. I thank God that my leg continues feel better each morning I wake up, my strength, quickness, endurance, and speed seemingly improve as well. My mind is in a really good place right now! I have seen adversity before and I have been groomed to handle it! You DIG DEEP and that is what I am doing I am DIGGING DEEP for all my worth!!!
After I am completely healthy which should be in the next week or so I will race the America's Cup Circuit, push great and with God's blessing show the coaches what I am capable of and that when I am healthy I should no doubt be on World Cup. Depending on my performance and how the guys are pushing on World Cup our Coaches have the ability to call me up to World Cup during the First Half or the Second Half of the season. So if you have time please say a prayer or two that I am finally able to compete at 100 percent of my ability!!! And Like my football coaches always told us "Perform and let the numbers speak for themselves!"
Thank you all and God bless
Jesse
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Sunday, October 25, 2009
2009 Team Trials
Good Morning everyone,
I hope you all have had a great weekend and got out to see Saw IV or Law Abiding citizen, I did not get a chance to but I plan on it when I get a chance.
It has been a couple of interesting weeks since last I spoke with you and a lot has happened. Ok, so the week of October 5th I was feeling better my leg was getting stronger, I had spoken with Todd Hays the driver of USA 2 about getting a race off for a spot on his sled which he was going to give me so I was feeling pretty good! Later that week me and some of the other guys he was thinking about using was at the Push Track in Lake Placid training and recording times, well my first few pushes felt great than on my fifth push of four-man we fired out the hole pretty good then on like my sixth step something Popped in my right abductor and I had to hop on the sled early since I was unable to keep running!!!! This is NOT what I needed to happen to say the least!!! I was extremely upset I ended up punching the ground and a nearby wooden sign, I could not believe what was going on!. It was one of those moments where I saw 8yrs of my life just floating by my eyes.
I immediately got dressed and one of my teammates let me use his car to drive back to the training center to have our sport trainers take a look at my leg. The trainers began examining my leg, but it was really tender to the touch so they immediately placed ice on it to take down the swelling. The only weird thing is that it hurt but it felt like something that needed to be loosen got loosened up. Don't get me wrong it was still really sore but it did feel better than it did before (or maybe I just got use to the pain, kind of hard to tell since I am not use to being injured)
From that day on I was in the training room four times a day (twice in the morning, and twice in the afternoon) getting Ice and stem, Ultrasound, Compression, and any other treatment I could do to get my leg back. I was also applying anti-inflammatory cream to my leg and wrapping it with and ace bandage every day. All this and a ton of praying my leg began to recover and really fast pace unfortunately though my chance at a race off had past since team trial race would start next week on the 14th and 15th. Needless to say it was not any fun having to watch team trials in Placid, but like any other brakeman who does not race I helped move the sleds for those people who were racing so that they can concentrate solely on racing.
It was very frustrating for me but I just kept thinking that ok I did not get a chance to race in Lake Placid but maybe that is just God's way of giving me more time to rest for the last part of Team Trial Races the upcoming week in Park City, Utah. Due to the fact that some drivers were not happy with their crews and their start times and some other shuffling that was going on with some crews not happy with their driver I was given the opportunity to race with Mike Bradley USA 5. Yeah of course I would have liked to race with a higher ranked driver but the opportunity came with mike first so I took it! Thank God now at least I know I was going to race team trials at the least!!!
I arrived in Park City on Sunday the 18th, training started on Monday the 19th with some two man training. I pushed on Monday and my leg felt pretty good which I was happy about!!! The next day we did some 4-man training and I was still feeling pretty good. Each day I felt like my leg was continually getting stronger and I was beginning to get back into my running rhythm, it felt a little tight but I just assumed it was because I needed to just warm up longer. The 2-man race was on the 23rd which another guy on my team raced in. The for man was the next day on the 24th. On the night of the 23rd I did my usual pre race day warm-up and stretch, I ran a few laps around the track in the gym and was feeling pretty loose, I did a couple of drills and stretch like usual and left the gym feeling confident for the next day of racing.
The day of the race I began my preparations for the race doing my completed warm-up drills, stretching, and sprints. I was ready to go!!
Me and my team got to the starting block, got in our ready stance and took off!! My running felt fine to me, the load was good but when we got down to the bottom of the hill our start time was 5.12 when other teams were pushing 4.88 and 4.94 or so! We were not happy at the bottom we had the slowest start. When we got back to the top I heard that the coaches thought I had gotten hurt running because I was running really wide and away from the sled as if I was protecting my leg. I immediately let the coaches know that I was not hurt and I was running wide because in training I kept hitting the side bunk of the sled we were using. I was use to racing in a Bo-dyne sled and this one was different and I evidently over compensated by running to wide to avoid hitting the bunk in the race. The second heat I said forget and just got back in my normal running position, if I hit the bunk I hit the bunk! We pushed again and the time was still only 5.10. I was told by a few teammates watching that it my pushing looked a lot better but my coach still thought I was guarding and I did not look like I normally look when I push. Honestly I felt good pushing and I thought our start time would be faster, I know I am not the only one pushing but it felt like everyone was looking at me for the slow times because of my recent injuries. Needless to say we finished 5th out of 5 sleds. We had hoped to prove that we could put up a strong start time with Mike, which would had looked good for myself and Corey(my teammate from last year who was just added to Mike's sled for this race) since mike is not the fastest pushing driver. Unfortunately this did not turn out the way we had hoped.
However a couple of hours after the race my left leg was pretty sore more so than usual after a race, which I know now that I still have some healing to do before I am able to push and run the way I should be.
Later that day on the 24th at 4pm the official announcement of the National Team was made and I was not on it, which was disappointing but with the timing of what has been going on with my leg especially these last few weeks I was not surprised that I was not on the team.
Thankfully there is still time for me to get fully better and continue chasing my Olympic Dreams! How is that possible you ask, well let me tell you!
Each year there is a World Cup Tour that the National Team races on , but there is also a America's Cup Tour for those athletes who do not make World Cup race on! Due to changes in the Olympic Qualifying Process a driver can still make it to the Olympics if he does well on the America's Cup tour. And we have drivers on the America's cup that are capable of doing just that. My job now is to get back to placid, get in sports med and get my leg fully ready and stronger than before! After that I will start pushing on the America's Cup Tour which starts here in Park City three weeks from now, then to Calgary, and to Lake Placid for a total of 14 races in three weeks. It is important that I push the driver I am with extremely well in order to be selected to attend a another Push Championship the month of January over in Germany that will be used to determine the Olympic Team, added with past competition results.
The road would be a lot easier if I was on World Cup but there is a chance slim as it may be for me to make it and that is good enough for me!!! A good friend of mine once told me to just keep pushing, let everything sort itself out and that is what I will do. With God's blessing I will continue to get healthy, train and do my best so that my coaches see that I should be called up!
My spirit is high, my confidence is up and there is no quit in my heart!!!
Thank you all for your support and the e-mails that you send me. You all keep me going
Thanks and God Bless!
Jesse
I hope you all have had a great weekend and got out to see Saw IV or Law Abiding citizen, I did not get a chance to but I plan on it when I get a chance.
It has been a couple of interesting weeks since last I spoke with you and a lot has happened. Ok, so the week of October 5th I was feeling better my leg was getting stronger, I had spoken with Todd Hays the driver of USA 2 about getting a race off for a spot on his sled which he was going to give me so I was feeling pretty good! Later that week me and some of the other guys he was thinking about using was at the Push Track in Lake Placid training and recording times, well my first few pushes felt great than on my fifth push of four-man we fired out the hole pretty good then on like my sixth step something Popped in my right abductor and I had to hop on the sled early since I was unable to keep running!!!! This is NOT what I needed to happen to say the least!!! I was extremely upset I ended up punching the ground and a nearby wooden sign, I could not believe what was going on!. It was one of those moments where I saw 8yrs of my life just floating by my eyes.
I immediately got dressed and one of my teammates let me use his car to drive back to the training center to have our sport trainers take a look at my leg. The trainers began examining my leg, but it was really tender to the touch so they immediately placed ice on it to take down the swelling. The only weird thing is that it hurt but it felt like something that needed to be loosen got loosened up. Don't get me wrong it was still really sore but it did feel better than it did before (or maybe I just got use to the pain, kind of hard to tell since I am not use to being injured)
From that day on I was in the training room four times a day (twice in the morning, and twice in the afternoon) getting Ice and stem, Ultrasound, Compression, and any other treatment I could do to get my leg back. I was also applying anti-inflammatory cream to my leg and wrapping it with and ace bandage every day. All this and a ton of praying my leg began to recover and really fast pace unfortunately though my chance at a race off had past since team trial race would start next week on the 14th and 15th. Needless to say it was not any fun having to watch team trials in Placid, but like any other brakeman who does not race I helped move the sleds for those people who were racing so that they can concentrate solely on racing.
It was very frustrating for me but I just kept thinking that ok I did not get a chance to race in Lake Placid but maybe that is just God's way of giving me more time to rest for the last part of Team Trial Races the upcoming week in Park City, Utah. Due to the fact that some drivers were not happy with their crews and their start times and some other shuffling that was going on with some crews not happy with their driver I was given the opportunity to race with Mike Bradley USA 5. Yeah of course I would have liked to race with a higher ranked driver but the opportunity came with mike first so I took it! Thank God now at least I know I was going to race team trials at the least!!!
I arrived in Park City on Sunday the 18th, training started on Monday the 19th with some two man training. I pushed on Monday and my leg felt pretty good which I was happy about!!! The next day we did some 4-man training and I was still feeling pretty good. Each day I felt like my leg was continually getting stronger and I was beginning to get back into my running rhythm, it felt a little tight but I just assumed it was because I needed to just warm up longer. The 2-man race was on the 23rd which another guy on my team raced in. The for man was the next day on the 24th. On the night of the 23rd I did my usual pre race day warm-up and stretch, I ran a few laps around the track in the gym and was feeling pretty loose, I did a couple of drills and stretch like usual and left the gym feeling confident for the next day of racing.
The day of the race I began my preparations for the race doing my completed warm-up drills, stretching, and sprints. I was ready to go!!
Me and my team got to the starting block, got in our ready stance and took off!! My running felt fine to me, the load was good but when we got down to the bottom of the hill our start time was 5.12 when other teams were pushing 4.88 and 4.94 or so! We were not happy at the bottom we had the slowest start. When we got back to the top I heard that the coaches thought I had gotten hurt running because I was running really wide and away from the sled as if I was protecting my leg. I immediately let the coaches know that I was not hurt and I was running wide because in training I kept hitting the side bunk of the sled we were using. I was use to racing in a Bo-dyne sled and this one was different and I evidently over compensated by running to wide to avoid hitting the bunk in the race. The second heat I said forget and just got back in my normal running position, if I hit the bunk I hit the bunk! We pushed again and the time was still only 5.10. I was told by a few teammates watching that it my pushing looked a lot better but my coach still thought I was guarding and I did not look like I normally look when I push. Honestly I felt good pushing and I thought our start time would be faster, I know I am not the only one pushing but it felt like everyone was looking at me for the slow times because of my recent injuries. Needless to say we finished 5th out of 5 sleds. We had hoped to prove that we could put up a strong start time with Mike, which would had looked good for myself and Corey(my teammate from last year who was just added to Mike's sled for this race) since mike is not the fastest pushing driver. Unfortunately this did not turn out the way we had hoped.
However a couple of hours after the race my left leg was pretty sore more so than usual after a race, which I know now that I still have some healing to do before I am able to push and run the way I should be.
Later that day on the 24th at 4pm the official announcement of the National Team was made and I was not on it, which was disappointing but with the timing of what has been going on with my leg especially these last few weeks I was not surprised that I was not on the team.
Thankfully there is still time for me to get fully better and continue chasing my Olympic Dreams! How is that possible you ask, well let me tell you!
Each year there is a World Cup Tour that the National Team races on , but there is also a America's Cup Tour for those athletes who do not make World Cup race on! Due to changes in the Olympic Qualifying Process a driver can still make it to the Olympics if he does well on the America's Cup tour. And we have drivers on the America's cup that are capable of doing just that. My job now is to get back to placid, get in sports med and get my leg fully ready and stronger than before! After that I will start pushing on the America's Cup Tour which starts here in Park City three weeks from now, then to Calgary, and to Lake Placid for a total of 14 races in three weeks. It is important that I push the driver I am with extremely well in order to be selected to attend a another Push Championship the month of January over in Germany that will be used to determine the Olympic Team, added with past competition results.
The road would be a lot easier if I was on World Cup but there is a chance slim as it may be for me to make it and that is good enough for me!!! A good friend of mine once told me to just keep pushing, let everything sort itself out and that is what I will do. With God's blessing I will continue to get healthy, train and do my best so that my coaches see that I should be called up!
My spirit is high, my confidence is up and there is no quit in my heart!!!
Thank you all for your support and the e-mails that you send me. You all keep me going
Thanks and God Bless!
Jesse
Hello all,
Well I will get right to the point in this e-mail. We had our annual Push Championships last week and unfortunately I had the worse day of testing in my life! I was about .13 of where I should have been. I finished out of the top 10 when it came to pushing. It was by far not my best day. I know what happened, how it happened but not sure why it had to happen at that moment. I let myself get to amped up before I was going to push which, translated to me having bad form when I was pushing. Also for some crazy reason right before I pushed decided to change the hand position that I have been using for the past 5yrs (for some reason I thought it would be faster). These factors resulted in all of momentum and power was not going in the correct direction, it was going east and west when I ran instead of North and South down into the Ice. I looked at the video , output force chart, forward acceleration chart, speed (mph) charts and saw where I lost the time in my pushing and realized what I did wrong.
The next day when we had 3-man combination pushes and I was able to gather my self and correct what went wrong the day before. The trick for me is to get amped up but to breathe and refocus and calm down before I push. The combination pushes I was in on times were right up there with the fastest times or withing .03. However most drivers make their decisions regarding teams based on the individual pushes, so the 3 man combos hold some weight but not a lot.
It has been a trying off-season for me this year dealing with my leg surgery, then a hyper extended ligament in my right knee, high hamstring issues in my right leg, a strained right abductor and groin. My Trainers in Sport Medicine gave me the treatment I needed to get back training normal. But before heading up to Calgary I ended up me receive a shot in my groin to relieve the pain that was still feeling in it. I am not good at discussing injuries because frankly they annoy me more than I can verbally express nor do I like the fact that I have had to take time off in order to heal. I feel that I need to let you all know because I did promise to keep you all up to date with the highs and lows in my journey to become an Olympian.
I know you are all wondering where things stand with me and what my next move is, so let here it goes. Since I did not do myself any favors pushing I will have to talk to some drivers about getting a race off against push athletes that drivers may have already named to their team for National Team Trials. Once I get the driver or drivers to understand that I just had a off day and I have always preformed in races, and agree to a race off between me and one of their guys I will then beat them out of their spot and take their place on the sled, and compete in Team Trials. The bottom line is that if I do not compete in Team Trials my quest for 2010 ends here....But that is not going to happen! I have given up to much and fought to hard to let it end like this! I WILL GET MY RACE OFF, I WILL TAKE THE SPOT THAT IS IS MINE, I WILL MAKE WORLD CUP AND WITH BY GRACE OF GOD I WILL BECOME AN OLYMPIAN!!
Team Trials start Oct 5-10 in Lake Palcid then we had to Park City for a week to finish up Team Trials. I will continue to keep you all up to date with my progress as it happens.
God Bless and thank you all for your support!
Jesse
Well I will get right to the point in this e-mail. We had our annual Push Championships last week and unfortunately I had the worse day of testing in my life! I was about .13 of where I should have been. I finished out of the top 10 when it came to pushing. It was by far not my best day. I know what happened, how it happened but not sure why it had to happen at that moment. I let myself get to amped up before I was going to push which, translated to me having bad form when I was pushing. Also for some crazy reason right before I pushed decided to change the hand position that I have been using for the past 5yrs (for some reason I thought it would be faster). These factors resulted in all of momentum and power was not going in the correct direction, it was going east and west when I ran instead of North and South down into the Ice. I looked at the video , output force chart, forward acceleration chart, speed (mph) charts and saw where I lost the time in my pushing and realized what I did wrong.
The next day when we had 3-man combination pushes and I was able to gather my self and correct what went wrong the day before. The trick for me is to get amped up but to breathe and refocus and calm down before I push. The combination pushes I was in on times were right up there with the fastest times or withing .03. However most drivers make their decisions regarding teams based on the individual pushes, so the 3 man combos hold some weight but not a lot.
It has been a trying off-season for me this year dealing with my leg surgery, then a hyper extended ligament in my right knee, high hamstring issues in my right leg, a strained right abductor and groin. My Trainers in Sport Medicine gave me the treatment I needed to get back training normal. But before heading up to Calgary I ended up me receive a shot in my groin to relieve the pain that was still feeling in it. I am not good at discussing injuries because frankly they annoy me more than I can verbally express nor do I like the fact that I have had to take time off in order to heal. I feel that I need to let you all know because I did promise to keep you all up to date with the highs and lows in my journey to become an Olympian.
I know you are all wondering where things stand with me and what my next move is, so let here it goes. Since I did not do myself any favors pushing I will have to talk to some drivers about getting a race off against push athletes that drivers may have already named to their team for National Team Trials. Once I get the driver or drivers to understand that I just had a off day and I have always preformed in races, and agree to a race off between me and one of their guys I will then beat them out of their spot and take their place on the sled, and compete in Team Trials. The bottom line is that if I do not compete in Team Trials my quest for 2010 ends here....But that is not going to happen! I have given up to much and fought to hard to let it end like this! I WILL GET MY RACE OFF, I WILL TAKE THE SPOT THAT IS IS MINE, I WILL MAKE WORLD CUP AND WITH BY GRACE OF GOD I WILL BECOME AN OLYMPIAN!!
Team Trials start Oct 5-10 in Lake Palcid then we had to Park City for a week to finish up Team Trials. I will continue to keep you all up to date with my progress as it happens.
God Bless and thank you all for your support!
Jesse
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Polo Ralph Lauren update part 1
Greetings everyone!!!
I apologize that it has been a while since my last update but a lot of things have been going on, which is Great but my mind has been all over the place.
About a month and a half ago I received a phone call from Chris Coleman who is a former Olympic Bobsledder, and current Associate Director of Marketing Properties for the USOC (United States Olympic Committee). Chris informed me that Polo Ralph Lauren was doing an Olympic Photo shoot in NYC and they were looking for the right athletes to represent the Winter Olympics. Evidently some of the ladies in the marketing department remembered me from training out there last summer and mentioned to Chris that I would be a good candidate. That's when I received a phone call on Tuesday afternoon informing me about what was going on. Chris explained the situation to me and asked me if that was something I would be interested in. I told him I was not sure I have to check my schedule! JUST JOKING!! I felt like Renee Zellweger I was like "You had me at Po!" lol. Chris was on a tight deadline and needed to know if I had a copy of my biography and some pictures that I could forward him since Ralph and his staff wanted to look over the pictures tomorrow! I was thinking hmmm...does Jesse Beckom III have a few pictures of himself? let me see..... I informed Chris that I might have a few laying around that I can send you.(Yes, Yes sometimes I speak about myself in the third person, its ok everyone does it at least once in their life).
I immediately started shuffling through my pictures looking at some modeling pictures and some lifestyle (pictures from everyday life) that I had on my computer. After finding the pictures that I thought would work, I e-mailed them along with a copy of my biography to Chris who forwarded them on Ralph Lauren and his staff.
Two days later at the Push Track I hear my phone ringing but I did since I was in the middle of training, and I figure if its important they will leave me a message. Turned out the message was important, it was Chris calling to relay a message from the people at Polo Ralph Lauren. Turns out they like my look, my story and they want to know if I would be available from June 17-20th for the shoot!!!! Yup my head may have suddenly gotten a wee bit heavy after listening to that message. Seriously though I was actually feeling pretty grateful of the opportunity God just place in my hands because I knew it was nothing I had done to make this happen. Right after I listened to the message I dropped down to my knees for a quick little thank you prayer to God, then called Chris back to let him know that I would definitely be available.
Soon after I began receiving e-mails form Jill Krizelman the Director of Retail Marketing, welcoming me to the project, letting me know that her and the staff are looking forward to meeting and working with me. The e-mails definitely made me feel really comfortable and even more excited about the opportunity in front of me.
This is where the story gets a little bit embarrassing but oh well I am going to tell it the way it happened........
Now for those of you who do not know it, I like to be as prepared as possible for any situation that I find myself in. That being said once I had the dates for the photo shoot I e-mailed my friend Ari who is former Miss Teen Iowa, and has done a ton of other modeling over the years for some advice. I tell her about the shoot and ask her if she has some tips what I should do to get prepared. Ari congratulated me then preference's her response with "Jesse this may sound feminine but this is what my male model friends have told me works for them!" I was thinking Ok......what is she about to say next? Ari goes on to tell me that I should get a manicure and a pedicure before the shoot, I need to go to a spa a day or so before the shoot and have a soak in Dead Sea Salt because its suppose to make my skin look amazing. Yeah I know right but just wanted to remind everyone out there that I still bench over 450lbs and can squat a small country....just in case some are starting to doubt my membership in the MANCLUB and are feeling a need to crack a joke! (I.E Tate, Bobby Mac, Dean, Atif, and Hayhurst!) Just throwing that out there! Skittles Tate! Skittles!
Ari continues telling me I need to buy some Evian Natural Mineral Water Facial Spray which will help keep my face looking moisturized and soft, and I need to use some teeth whitening products and if I do not have these things that she can send them to me! How great is that?! I was thinking Ari, you no good and well that I do not have any Evian Facial Spray so stop playing with me! lol Ari ends up sending me some bottles of the facial spray and the teeth whitening products. Ari- also included instructions regarding how and when to use the products cause she knew I had no clue what so ever on what to do with them!
As far as the spa thing goes I was not about to spend money just to soak in Dead Sea Salt! However, I did get on line and order a 5lb bag of Bokek Dead Salt, ran some warm water in the bath and soaking in that. Oh and yes if you are wondering I did go get the manicure and pedicure AND WHAT ABOUT IT!!!!?
Leading up to the photo shoot I was strictly buisness every night. I was spraying my face the Evian facial spray, using the teeth whitening products, and doing sit-ups, crunches, side crunches, Jack knife crunches, side crunches, bicycle crunches I mean Everything! The only thing in my mind is that I am going to a 24pack by the time this photo shoot come around, just in case I have a picture with my shirt open I need to be ready!!
June 17th finally rolls around and I head to the airport. Yes I flew from Lake Placid, NY to Ny, NY! Don't judge me! lol Man its getting kind of late I am going to have to finish this another time. Sorry!
This e-mail is supported and backed by the friends of Jesse Beckom III who wish you a happy tomorrow!
God Bless,
Jesse
www.jessebeckom3.com
I apologize that it has been a while since my last update but a lot of things have been going on, which is Great but my mind has been all over the place.
About a month and a half ago I received a phone call from Chris Coleman who is a former Olympic Bobsledder, and current Associate Director of Marketing Properties for the USOC (United States Olympic Committee). Chris informed me that Polo Ralph Lauren was doing an Olympic Photo shoot in NYC and they were looking for the right athletes to represent the Winter Olympics. Evidently some of the ladies in the marketing department remembered me from training out there last summer and mentioned to Chris that I would be a good candidate. That's when I received a phone call on Tuesday afternoon informing me about what was going on. Chris explained the situation to me and asked me if that was something I would be interested in. I told him I was not sure I have to check my schedule! JUST JOKING!! I felt like Renee Zellweger I was like "You had me at Po!" lol. Chris was on a tight deadline and needed to know if I had a copy of my biography and some pictures that I could forward him since Ralph and his staff wanted to look over the pictures tomorrow! I was thinking hmmm...does Jesse Beckom III have a few pictures of himself? let me see..... I informed Chris that I might have a few laying around that I can send you.(Yes, Yes sometimes I speak about myself in the third person, its ok everyone does it at least once in their life).
I immediately started shuffling through my pictures looking at some modeling pictures and some lifestyle (pictures from everyday life) that I had on my computer. After finding the pictures that I thought would work, I e-mailed them along with a copy of my biography to Chris who forwarded them on Ralph Lauren and his staff.
Two days later at the Push Track I hear my phone ringing but I did since I was in the middle of training, and I figure if its important they will leave me a message. Turned out the message was important, it was Chris calling to relay a message from the people at Polo Ralph Lauren. Turns out they like my look, my story and they want to know if I would be available from June 17-20th for the shoot!!!! Yup my head may have suddenly gotten a wee bit heavy after listening to that message. Seriously though I was actually feeling pretty grateful of the opportunity God just place in my hands because I knew it was nothing I had done to make this happen. Right after I listened to the message I dropped down to my knees for a quick little thank you prayer to God, then called Chris back to let him know that I would definitely be available.
Soon after I began receiving e-mails form Jill Krizelman the Director of Retail Marketing, welcoming me to the project, letting me know that her and the staff are looking forward to meeting and working with me. The e-mails definitely made me feel really comfortable and even more excited about the opportunity in front of me.
This is where the story gets a little bit embarrassing but oh well I am going to tell it the way it happened........
Now for those of you who do not know it, I like to be as prepared as possible for any situation that I find myself in. That being said once I had the dates for the photo shoot I e-mailed my friend Ari who is former Miss Teen Iowa, and has done a ton of other modeling over the years for some advice. I tell her about the shoot and ask her if she has some tips what I should do to get prepared. Ari congratulated me then preference's her response with "Jesse this may sound feminine but this is what my male model friends have told me works for them!" I was thinking Ok......what is she about to say next? Ari goes on to tell me that I should get a manicure and a pedicure before the shoot, I need to go to a spa a day or so before the shoot and have a soak in Dead Sea Salt because its suppose to make my skin look amazing. Yeah I know right but just wanted to remind everyone out there that I still bench over 450lbs and can squat a small country....just in case some are starting to doubt my membership in the MANCLUB and are feeling a need to crack a joke! (I.E Tate, Bobby Mac, Dean, Atif, and Hayhurst!) Just throwing that out there! Skittles Tate! Skittles!
Ari continues telling me I need to buy some Evian Natural Mineral Water Facial Spray which will help keep my face looking moisturized and soft, and I need to use some teeth whitening products and if I do not have these things that she can send them to me! How great is that?! I was thinking Ari, you no good and well that I do not have any Evian Facial Spray so stop playing with me! lol Ari ends up sending me some bottles of the facial spray and the teeth whitening products. Ari- also included instructions regarding how and when to use the products cause she knew I had no clue what so ever on what to do with them!
As far as the spa thing goes I was not about to spend money just to soak in Dead Sea Salt! However, I did get on line and order a 5lb bag of Bokek Dead Salt, ran some warm water in the bath and soaking in that. Oh and yes if you are wondering I did go get the manicure and pedicure AND WHAT ABOUT IT!!!!?
Leading up to the photo shoot I was strictly buisness every night. I was spraying my face the Evian facial spray, using the teeth whitening products, and doing sit-ups, crunches, side crunches, Jack knife crunches, side crunches, bicycle crunches I mean Everything! The only thing in my mind is that I am going to a 24pack by the time this photo shoot come around, just in case I have a picture with my shirt open I need to be ready!!
June 17th finally rolls around and I head to the airport. Yes I flew from Lake Placid, NY to Ny, NY! Don't judge me! lol Man its getting kind of late I am going to have to finish this another time. Sorry!
This e-mail is supported and backed by the friends of Jesse Beckom III who wish you a happy tomorrow!
God Bless,
Jesse
www.jessebeckom3.com
Polo Ralph Lauren Photo Shoot finale
Vie Ghets! (What's Up)
So this e-mail became longer than I thought it would be.
As I was saying Boss Hog was hot on our trails, Luke and Bo were going crazy in the back seat telling me to drop the hammer! and daisy was nowhere to be found!.....Sorry bout that wrong story. lol
Back to my original story. Ralph Lauren was flying me from Lake Placid, NY to New York City, NY and yes I know how that sounds but hey I like it in them! It kind of reminded me in college at Iowa State when we flew from Des Moines, IA to that Other City where that Other Schools plays at to beat them! lol
Since Lake Placid does not have a airport I flew out of Saranc Lake which is twenty minutes away. I could have flown out of Albany, NY but its a two and a half hour ride from Lake Placid to the airport. The airport in Sarnac Lake is not what yo would call your major hub of activity to say the least!! This is a fact that I knew but knowing that I was still surprised when I came to the airport, an airport which by the way you only have arrive 30 minutes before your scheduled flight. I get to the airport about an hour before my flight, you know just to be on the safe side. I check my bags in but security was no open yet so I had to wait 30 minutes before security opened. I thought this was pretty amusing because the TSA Agents that checked my bags walked around the counter and over twenty feet to the security table, metal detector and proceeded to Open Up Security!!! Lol I am still amused by this so feel free to laugh!
As I pass through security with the biggest GRIN ever on my face I proceed to walk out on the tarmac. I expected to see a small plane from the size of the airport and the 5 other passengers sitting in the airport but I did not expect to be a Cessna!, and at that moment my grin got a little be smaller, actually transforming into a smirk! The strangest thought of hmmm....how exactly is this going to work passed through my mind a million times in those fifteen steps to the airplane. As we board this glider, sorry airplane our usher/baggage claim attendant/ security person informs us that due to weight balancing no one can sit in the very last seat. We board the plane which is actually equipped with some pretty nice bucket leather seats. To my further amusements after I have my seat-belt fastened the Co-Pilot leans back, turns around and briefs us on the the safety procedures. Seriously I could not talk and was barely breathing at this point because if I did I would have exploded in laughter!!
The plane starts its taxi down the runway which is right about when the win began blowing a little bit harder causing the plane to sway slightly! I was thinking "So this is how it all ends I guess, well its been fun!" As the plane picked up speed the swaying stopped, next thing I new we were in the air! It was actually a pretty smooth flight and the view was extraordinary. Since Cessna's do not fly as high as your regular charter airplane it made it easier to take in the sights of the landscape and cities that we were flying over. Being in that plane gave me a new respect for the greenery of the Adirondack's during the summer months. The treetops seemed to go on forever, the mountains looked terrific and the streams flowed for miles on end. If you never have the pleasure of coming to see me race here in the winter during those -50 degree days, I highly recommend you coming out this way, bring your family if you have one and enjoy the great outdoors here in the summer months.
The plane lands in Boston with no problems and I successfully make it to my connecting flight to NYC, which was on a normal sized plane.
When I arrived I received a phone call from the chauffeur company informing me that my driver was at the airport waiting my arrival! This is when I begin to think "I have not met any of the people at Ralph Lauren but I am liking the way the operate!", I come down the escalator and true enough there is a guy holding a sign that say BECKOM! Yup that's me!!! My driver (I am really liking the fact that I can say My Driver by the way and I may say My Driver a lot so try not to get too annoyed if I tell you something that My Driver does, or something My Driver does not do because because being My Driver, My Driver has a lot of responsibilities that come along with being My Driver but its ok cause he is My Driver! lol). Where was I again....oh yeah My Driver followed me to the baggage claim where we bot watched as the carousel stopped and guess what people, you knew it had to happen...Yup once again my luggage was lost in transit!! I swear my bags have been lost more times than a T.V remote. I have said it once and I will say it again KEEP UP WITH YOUR BAGGAGE CLAIM TICKET!! After talking to the lady in baggage claim I find out that my bag is still in Boston and should be coming in later tonight before midnight. This is has happened to me so many times I am not stressed out to much, especially since I have my laptop with me at all times and that is the most important item I travel with.
I followed My Driver out to the Lincoln Town Car that was awaiting me and was on my way. The drive through NYC was pretty sweet and I enjoyed every minute of it! My Driver was originally from Beijing, China. He asked me if I was a model, I told him was an Bobsled athlete playing model for a couple of days.
It was a forty-five minute drive from the airport to the Empire Hotel NYC http://www.empirehotelnyc.com where I would be staying (You really have to go on-line and look at this hotel it is really nice and trying to describe it would take forever. When I checked in at the hotel the laddies at the hotel were all smiling contagiously at me, I can only assume since the reservation were under Ralph Lauren they assumed I was one of their real models. One of the ladies informed me that there was a package waiting for me and promptly grabbed it for me. She walked to the back room, returning with a Polo Ralph Lauren bag in her hand and gave to me. A driver!, women constantly smiling at me during my arrival!, a gift at the front desk!, I tell you what if this if the life of a model I then please sign me up cause I am loving this treatment!
After thanking the front desk girl for my bag I head up to my room. My room had a king size bed a nice view of the city and a fully stocked fridge complete with two bottles of champagne, two bottles of wine and anything else you would want to drink. I ended up drinking a couple bottles of water, a sprite, a coke and a few snickers. lol Yeah I know but hey I am training here not time for the other stuff. Next I open up the Polo box that was in the bag. Inside was a red Polo Ralph Lauren shirt with a large navy blue Polo emblem on the left breast and the number 3 on the right sleeve. I like to think they knew I was Jesse Beckom III and that's why my shirt had a 3 on it but then I noticed all of their shirts like that have a number 3 on it. lol Along with the shirt was a cool little card from Jill telling me how happy everyone is to work with me and finally meet me, it was a good feeling by far! Later that night Jill called to make sure my flight was ok and that I made it in safe. I informed her about my baggage situation and she said some the greatest word I have every heard she said " Well Jesse I sorry this happend but you picked the right place to loose your bag because if you do not receive it then we will get you some things from the Polo Store!" I was thinking What was that you say sweet angel? lol Did you say from the Polo Store? I have never wished so hard that my bag never turned up in my life!! lol but it did and that was fine too! So close so very very close! lol
First Day of the shoot
The next morning at 7:15 am I and eight other winter sports athletes met Jill in the hotel lobby. I knew Noelle Pikus-Pace (Skeleton), Ryan St.Onge (Aerialist 2009 World Champion) and Tim Burke (Bi-athlete 2006 Olympian) since we all come across each other from being in the Olympic Training Center. I met Ben Agosto and Tanith Belbin (Paired Ice Dances and 2006 Silver Medalist), Ted (Alpine Skier 2006 Gold Medalist), Evan Lysacek (2009 World Champion), Resi Stiegler (Down Hill Skier GS). Who are all a great group of people and accomplished athletes. We all did the normal hello's but not much was said though aw we all piled into the van outside that would take us to our photo shoot at Brooklyn Studios in Brooklyn, NY. At the start of thirty-five minute drive to the studio Jill began to informed us that we will be trying on the Opening and Closing Ceremony Clothing for the upcoming 2010 Winter Olympics!!!! EXACTLY WHAT I WAS THINKING!!! Then Jill told us the ideology that were behind the designs of the clothing we will be modeling and all of us were quite and were really.....how is this going to look? lol I would like to tell you the theme behind the apparel but it is meant to be a surprised so I will not ruin it and we signed waivers that we would not talk about the clothing in detail. So I will have some pictures up on my web-site but only a few and none of any of the outfits that we were wearing.
When we arrived in the studio we were directed over to the wardrobe section where there were about four racks of outfits, 5 rows of sun glasses, belts, ties, hats, socks boots everything we needed just waiting for us to try on. A few things were going through my mind at this time the first being "This is pretty serious" and the second being "God let me do what I need to do so that I can put these clothes on For Real come the Olympics!"
The Ralph-Lauren Polo staff was slowly introduced to us through out the day. The staff which consisted of about 35 or more people included the Polo Ralph Lauren Staff Directors, Managers, VP's; Photo Team, Video Team, Production Crew, and Styling Crew.
In the wardrobe area the men and women had at least three people at any given time helping us with our outfits. I believe it was Meryl the director of Men's Styling who handed me my first outfit to try on. As I am walking with the outfit I happen to look at the size of the shirt, and to my surprise I see the letter "M" so I started to laugh a bit thinking this should be interesting to say the least cause I have not been medium size in a looooooooooooong time! No one must have told them that bobsled guys are not small by any means! Anyway I go put the shirt and pants on which was not made out of spandex but the way they fit on me they could have easily been mistaken for spandex. I barely got the shirt to go on my arms but I tugged and pulled till it did but was only able to get about 4 buttons buttoned and I truly thought my legs were going to bust out of the pants they gave me. As I am slowly walking back to the wardrobe area looking like the in between stage of Bruce Banner to the Incredible Hulk I hollar out "I AM NOT SURE THIS FITS!" The other athletes were laughing but some of the ladies in the room seemed to think it fit just right! lol It got better because then they squeezed a medium sized sweater on over the shirt! Are you kidding me! lol It turned out that this was only the pre-fitting process. So while I was standing there looking like Thomas Tight pants they had the tailor come over to see where he needed to take out the arms, legs and add material in some places (and by some places I mean around the Gun Show Yeah FIRE POWER! BOOM!). After the tailor looked at me that took a few quick Polaroid pics of me and placed them on a show board. They did this process with all of us in whatever outfits we were going to be modeling. I had two changes I would be modeling and after I was done with the second change and the tailor was done making the appropriate marks he took the clothes and began to make the alterations. I was really impressed with this because it was only two tailors and they were making the adjustments to all of our outfits right on the spot!
Once I was done trying on my clothes it was off to hair and make-up. Of course I was sporting the freshly shave bald head so I did not have to see the hair dresser but I joked around with them asking if they could take a bit off the top for me. I laughed anyways! So as I looked at the other guys around me waiting for the make-up artist to do her thing you can tell we all were thinking the same thought which was. "Make-up Seriously Make-up when my friends find out about this it is not going to be good! Man Make-UP! GOD WHY MAKE UP!!?" But some of the girls seemed to be thrilled at a professional hair styling and make-up session, Yippee for them I guess. After we were done with a that area we sat around for a bit getting to know one another and finding out about each others sports. We also had a chance to converse with some of the staff members who were there and were very busy but made time for a chat or two.
They had a few different possible rooms that we were suppose to shoot including outside on the roof, but due to the rain that day we were not able to go outside. We each took our turn in the room they had set-up inside for us. Arnoldo was the name of our photographer and like everyone else he was a cool person but definitely serious about his job. During the photo shoot he would say things lik "Look Strong!" and I was thinking if I look any stronger I may bust out of this shirt! But he meant look strong facially. One time he said look heroic and I could think about was what how do I look like a military person, or kind of hard to look like a fireman or police man! What is this guy talking about look heroic but he meant to stand tall with my chest out and look daring Like HERE I AM TO SAVE THE DAY!!!! But his direction were pretty good just a few times hearing it to understand what he was looking for and how he wanted us to pose. At different point during our photos we took pictures with some of our sports specific gear which was sweet if I say so my self When we were not taking pictures we all would watch each other up there to see how we were doing and looking at the pictures that were taken as they popped up on a near by computer screen.
There was also a camera crew there from Teen/Kid T.V doing individual interviews with all of us, asking the basic battery of questions. They inquired about what makes us want to do the sport we do, what would it be like to walk in the opening ceremonies, what drives us and etc. It was a nice little addition to the photo shoot in between waiting for your time to shoot.
After my first round of photos I was standing around watching someone else take their shoots when Lizzie the Sr. Director of Corporate Communications came up and asked me if I had seen my shirt. I said to Lizzie "What Shirt?" she said with a huge smile "Here come follow me!" I followed Lizzie to a rack where several white Ralph Lauren Polo's were hanging. On the front was a navy blue Polo emblem with the Name BECKOM underneath it! On the back it read BECKOM under that was TEAM USA, under that were the Olympic Rings, and under that was VANCOUVER 2010!!!! When I saw this shirt I SMILED THE BIGGEST SMILE THAT I HAVE IN A LONG TIME!!! It is unexplainable how much of a rush I felt from seeing this piece of clothing. But the meaning behind it, the meaning if God willing I will be able to wear this shirt true to form it in February can not be expressed!!! And to make it ever better right after that I saw Tanith and Ben doing their photos together wearing their 2006 Silver Medals, then Ted took the stage wearing his 2006 Gold medal!! Seeing all these things motivated more than I could ever have imagined this trip would do! Seeing them up there is where I want to be. It was not envy or jealousy but a deep respect for them and what they have accomplished and to have a clue of the hard work and sacrifice that must go into reaching that point!! The chance to be the Best hands down and to do what it takes to get there and can never be stripped from you! That is what I saw and that is what I strive to have the fortitude to achieve!
It was a great first day of shooting and getting to know everyone. After the shoot at about 6pm went back to the hotel to relax for a couple of hours before we were taken to dinner at Rosa Mexicana http://www.rosamexicano.com/, which is a high end Mexican restaurant. From the food to the atmosphere this restaurant was excellent! We had reserved table upstairs and as we walked up to the right of us was a trickling waterfall flowing over a marble wall. And what waterfall will be complete without a diver, so there were countless mini sculptures positioned to show the numerous positions of a diver jumping off a cliff. The restaurant was very well lit, the food preparation was great and served in a timely manner. We all really enjoyed the dinner which gave us a chance to realax and get to know each other a bit more.
Second and final Day of the shoot
On the second day we met Jill and Jenna (Intern) in the lobby at 8:15, piled up in the van and headed back over to Brooklyn Studios. This second day of the shoot was the individual video interview day. There was a sound studio two blocks down from our current location where we would be doing separate interviews in front of a green screen. I need to regress for a minute. Before we came out to the shoot we were requested to bring old photos, videos, and news paper articles of ourselves to be added into this project. Now, we were informed that the camera crew we were working with was really creative so I am not sure if some of the media that we gave them will be on the green screen or not. However I did make them aware that if possible I would like to be seen Flying on Falcore (you know Falcore he is the Luck Dragon from the Neverending Story) not sure if that will actually happen but if you see it....that was my ideal! lol
The green screen day was pretty straight forward. We went down to the studio in groups of two to four depending on every ones flight schedule. They had each person talk about themselves, their sports achievements, some of the technical aspects about our sports and the mental focus it takes to perform in our respective sport. We demonstrated some of the motions and positions that we put our body through. So we were jumping, running in place, flipping just your basic action shots for the most part. The more amusing things of this day was what was happening when we were waiting to go to the video studio.
The first thing was that on this second day was some of the Real models that Ralph-Lauren Polo works with were there, modeling the same outfits that we were in the day before. It seemed like they brought in some of our modeling doubles. lol One guy look like Ted with the whole beach boy ice surfer look but may have been a little bit taller. One guy look like me without the weight room of course so he was about 50lbs less than me! lol It was completely opposite in some regards because instead of having to make clothes bigger they were taking out material to make the clothes smaller to fit them. We were thinking yup they are burning all the pictures of us right now but we are glad they invited us! lol Seriously though are going to use our pictures for a campaign Ralph Lauren Polo will be starting later this year around November. I will keep you all up to date with how the project progresses so you can be on the look out for it.
Next is what I have decided to call the Bored Olympics! Not sure if any of you know it or not but most of us are in the middle of our summer training and have three days of not training, lifting weights, or running makes an athlete get a little bit restless. With that being said while we waited for our turn to go over to the studio our minds started to wonder and think of physical challenges that we could. It started off slow as I was looking up to the celling, when Noelle must have read my mind cause she asked me "Hey Jesse you think you can touch that pipe?" I was like I should be able to get about how high is it? We tried to guess it out using Noelle height as a measuring stick and mentally stacking her upon herself! Then someone remembered that the tailors had some measuring tape and Noelle and Ryan ran to the table and grabbed it. They then ran up the spiral stair case that lead to the roof and drop the measuring tape from the break in the celling to the floor. The pipe was about 12.5 feet or so, so I was really confident that I could get it with a little running start. By this time we kind of forgot that we were working in a professional environment but we also live by the rule THAT EVERYTHING IS A COMPETITION! and by Noelle asking me could I touch the pipe the competition was ON! lol In hind sight this may not have been one of our brightest ideals but hey it happens. So I take a three step running start leap into the air Touching the Pipe of course, but i forgot to control my momentum as I landed! So all 225lbs of me come hurling down to the ground full force and BOOM I land and the whole floor shook! It was so loud it was crazy! I felt like a little kid that just got in troubled when I heard Jill call out JESSE!!! We all kind of laughed and I apologized, explaining to Jill that we got a little bored.
Since the jumping was out of things we could do or should do, we had to switch gears. Luckily Ryan (The Aerialist) travels with a set of push up bars that he uses to practice his L-Sits and hand stands with, which he happily made me aware off! And I could not resist telling Ryan to break them out! Once again EVERYTHING IS A COMPETITION! It is worth mentioning that the competition we were about to begin started in Lake Placid a week prior when some of the Bobsled, Bi-athletes, aerialist and skeleton athletes were all sitting around in the hallway talking and Ryan broke out the push up bars. The goal is to hold your self in the air using your arms as you are in the L position and your feet or legs are not allowed to touch the floor. The trick is to position the majority of your mass slightly behind your arms while also tightening your abs. Ryan and I went first then we challenged some of the other athletes there to do it as well. After that the next challenge was to while holding onto each of the push up bars that were positioned on the to do a handstand. But instead of just kicking your legs over your head you had to start in a crab position with your knees on the back of your elbow then slowly raise yourself into the air. The last thing we did was to see how many push ups you could do while in the handstand position. We each held one another leg just enough ensure we kept our balance but it still is a difficult thing to do.
Now while all this was going on one of the models there who was our age (yes she was 9yrs old too! lol) broke out her video camera and recorded all of these shananggins! There was also a young 8yr old boy there who was a model and with his grandmother. We had met them earlier in the day and when he saw me doing the handstand push ups he asked his grandmother if he could give it a try. His grandmother brought him over and of course we let him join in on the fun! The little kid was actually pretty strong doing 10 push-ups! Afterward upon their request we took pictures with him and his grandmother. Little guy was smiling from ear to ear it was really Great he was a cool little kid!
Our day ended at 6:30 we said our goodbyes to one another, thanked the Ralph Lauren Polo staff for all their hard work and went on our way! This was truly a great opportunity for me to be a part off and I am still honored that I was chosen to do it! Oh and we got to keep those white Polo Shirts with our names on them. Mine is folded in a box under my bed until God willing I punch my ticket this year!
God Bless
Jesse
www.jessebeckom3.com
So this e-mail became longer than I thought it would be.
As I was saying Boss Hog was hot on our trails, Luke and Bo were going crazy in the back seat telling me to drop the hammer! and daisy was nowhere to be found!.....Sorry bout that wrong story. lol
Back to my original story. Ralph Lauren was flying me from Lake Placid, NY to New York City, NY and yes I know how that sounds but hey I like it in them! It kind of reminded me in college at Iowa State when we flew from Des Moines, IA to that Other City where that Other Schools plays at to beat them! lol
Since Lake Placid does not have a airport I flew out of Saranc Lake which is twenty minutes away. I could have flown out of Albany, NY but its a two and a half hour ride from Lake Placid to the airport. The airport in Sarnac Lake is not what yo would call your major hub of activity to say the least!! This is a fact that I knew but knowing that I was still surprised when I came to the airport, an airport which by the way you only have arrive 30 minutes before your scheduled flight. I get to the airport about an hour before my flight, you know just to be on the safe side. I check my bags in but security was no open yet so I had to wait 30 minutes before security opened. I thought this was pretty amusing because the TSA Agents that checked my bags walked around the counter and over twenty feet to the security table, metal detector and proceeded to Open Up Security!!! Lol I am still amused by this so feel free to laugh!
As I pass through security with the biggest GRIN ever on my face I proceed to walk out on the tarmac. I expected to see a small plane from the size of the airport and the 5 other passengers sitting in the airport but I did not expect to be a Cessna!, and at that moment my grin got a little be smaller, actually transforming into a smirk! The strangest thought of hmmm....how exactly is this going to work passed through my mind a million times in those fifteen steps to the airplane. As we board this glider, sorry airplane our usher/baggage claim attendant/ security person informs us that due to weight balancing no one can sit in the very last seat. We board the plane which is actually equipped with some pretty nice bucket leather seats. To my further amusements after I have my seat-belt fastened the Co-Pilot leans back, turns around and briefs us on the the safety procedures. Seriously I could not talk and was barely breathing at this point because if I did I would have exploded in laughter!!
The plane starts its taxi down the runway which is right about when the win began blowing a little bit harder causing the plane to sway slightly! I was thinking "So this is how it all ends I guess, well its been fun!" As the plane picked up speed the swaying stopped, next thing I new we were in the air! It was actually a pretty smooth flight and the view was extraordinary. Since Cessna's do not fly as high as your regular charter airplane it made it easier to take in the sights of the landscape and cities that we were flying over. Being in that plane gave me a new respect for the greenery of the Adirondack's during the summer months. The treetops seemed to go on forever, the mountains looked terrific and the streams flowed for miles on end. If you never have the pleasure of coming to see me race here in the winter during those -50 degree days, I highly recommend you coming out this way, bring your family if you have one and enjoy the great outdoors here in the summer months.
The plane lands in Boston with no problems and I successfully make it to my connecting flight to NYC, which was on a normal sized plane.
When I arrived I received a phone call from the chauffeur company informing me that my driver was at the airport waiting my arrival! This is when I begin to think "I have not met any of the people at Ralph Lauren but I am liking the way the operate!", I come down the escalator and true enough there is a guy holding a sign that say BECKOM! Yup that's me!!! My driver (I am really liking the fact that I can say My Driver by the way and I may say My Driver a lot so try not to get too annoyed if I tell you something that My Driver does, or something My Driver does not do because because being My Driver, My Driver has a lot of responsibilities that come along with being My Driver but its ok cause he is My Driver! lol). Where was I again....oh yeah My Driver followed me to the baggage claim where we bot watched as the carousel stopped and guess what people, you knew it had to happen...Yup once again my luggage was lost in transit!! I swear my bags have been lost more times than a T.V remote. I have said it once and I will say it again KEEP UP WITH YOUR BAGGAGE CLAIM TICKET!! After talking to the lady in baggage claim I find out that my bag is still in Boston and should be coming in later tonight before midnight. This is has happened to me so many times I am not stressed out to much, especially since I have my laptop with me at all times and that is the most important item I travel with.
I followed My Driver out to the Lincoln Town Car that was awaiting me and was on my way. The drive through NYC was pretty sweet and I enjoyed every minute of it! My Driver was originally from Beijing, China. He asked me if I was a model, I told him was an Bobsled athlete playing model for a couple of days.
It was a forty-five minute drive from the airport to the Empire Hotel NYC http://www.empirehotelnyc.com where I would be staying (You really have to go on-line and look at this hotel it is really nice and trying to describe it would take forever. When I checked in at the hotel the laddies at the hotel were all smiling contagiously at me, I can only assume since the reservation were under Ralph Lauren they assumed I was one of their real models. One of the ladies informed me that there was a package waiting for me and promptly grabbed it for me. She walked to the back room, returning with a Polo Ralph Lauren bag in her hand and gave to me. A driver!, women constantly smiling at me during my arrival!, a gift at the front desk!, I tell you what if this if the life of a model I then please sign me up cause I am loving this treatment!
After thanking the front desk girl for my bag I head up to my room. My room had a king size bed a nice view of the city and a fully stocked fridge complete with two bottles of champagne, two bottles of wine and anything else you would want to drink. I ended up drinking a couple bottles of water, a sprite, a coke and a few snickers. lol Yeah I know but hey I am training here not time for the other stuff. Next I open up the Polo box that was in the bag. Inside was a red Polo Ralph Lauren shirt with a large navy blue Polo emblem on the left breast and the number 3 on the right sleeve. I like to think they knew I was Jesse Beckom III and that's why my shirt had a 3 on it but then I noticed all of their shirts like that have a number 3 on it. lol Along with the shirt was a cool little card from Jill telling me how happy everyone is to work with me and finally meet me, it was a good feeling by far! Later that night Jill called to make sure my flight was ok and that I made it in safe. I informed her about my baggage situation and she said some the greatest word I have every heard she said " Well Jesse I sorry this happend but you picked the right place to loose your bag because if you do not receive it then we will get you some things from the Polo Store!" I was thinking What was that you say sweet angel? lol Did you say from the Polo Store? I have never wished so hard that my bag never turned up in my life!! lol but it did and that was fine too! So close so very very close! lol
First Day of the shoot
The next morning at 7:15 am I and eight other winter sports athletes met Jill in the hotel lobby. I knew Noelle Pikus-Pace (Skeleton), Ryan St.Onge (Aerialist 2009 World Champion) and Tim Burke (Bi-athlete 2006 Olympian) since we all come across each other from being in the Olympic Training Center. I met Ben Agosto and Tanith Belbin (Paired Ice Dances and 2006 Silver Medalist), Ted (Alpine Skier 2006 Gold Medalist), Evan Lysacek (2009 World Champion), Resi Stiegler (Down Hill Skier GS). Who are all a great group of people and accomplished athletes. We all did the normal hello's but not much was said though aw we all piled into the van outside that would take us to our photo shoot at Brooklyn Studios in Brooklyn, NY. At the start of thirty-five minute drive to the studio Jill began to informed us that we will be trying on the Opening and Closing Ceremony Clothing for the upcoming 2010 Winter Olympics!!!! EXACTLY WHAT I WAS THINKING!!! Then Jill told us the ideology that were behind the designs of the clothing we will be modeling and all of us were quite and were really.....how is this going to look? lol I would like to tell you the theme behind the apparel but it is meant to be a surprised so I will not ruin it and we signed waivers that we would not talk about the clothing in detail. So I will have some pictures up on my web-site but only a few and none of any of the outfits that we were wearing.
When we arrived in the studio we were directed over to the wardrobe section where there were about four racks of outfits, 5 rows of sun glasses, belts, ties, hats, socks boots everything we needed just waiting for us to try on. A few things were going through my mind at this time the first being "This is pretty serious" and the second being "God let me do what I need to do so that I can put these clothes on For Real come the Olympics!"
The Ralph-Lauren Polo staff was slowly introduced to us through out the day. The staff which consisted of about 35 or more people included the Polo Ralph Lauren Staff Directors, Managers, VP's; Photo Team, Video Team, Production Crew, and Styling Crew.
In the wardrobe area the men and women had at least three people at any given time helping us with our outfits. I believe it was Meryl the director of Men's Styling who handed me my first outfit to try on. As I am walking with the outfit I happen to look at the size of the shirt, and to my surprise I see the letter "M" so I started to laugh a bit thinking this should be interesting to say the least cause I have not been medium size in a looooooooooooong time! No one must have told them that bobsled guys are not small by any means! Anyway I go put the shirt and pants on which was not made out of spandex but the way they fit on me they could have easily been mistaken for spandex. I barely got the shirt to go on my arms but I tugged and pulled till it did but was only able to get about 4 buttons buttoned and I truly thought my legs were going to bust out of the pants they gave me. As I am slowly walking back to the wardrobe area looking like the in between stage of Bruce Banner to the Incredible Hulk I hollar out "I AM NOT SURE THIS FITS!" The other athletes were laughing but some of the ladies in the room seemed to think it fit just right! lol It got better because then they squeezed a medium sized sweater on over the shirt! Are you kidding me! lol It turned out that this was only the pre-fitting process. So while I was standing there looking like Thomas Tight pants they had the tailor come over to see where he needed to take out the arms, legs and add material in some places (and by some places I mean around the Gun Show Yeah FIRE POWER! BOOM!). After the tailor looked at me that took a few quick Polaroid pics of me and placed them on a show board. They did this process with all of us in whatever outfits we were going to be modeling. I had two changes I would be modeling and after I was done with the second change and the tailor was done making the appropriate marks he took the clothes and began to make the alterations. I was really impressed with this because it was only two tailors and they were making the adjustments to all of our outfits right on the spot!
Once I was done trying on my clothes it was off to hair and make-up. Of course I was sporting the freshly shave bald head so I did not have to see the hair dresser but I joked around with them asking if they could take a bit off the top for me. I laughed anyways! So as I looked at the other guys around me waiting for the make-up artist to do her thing you can tell we all were thinking the same thought which was. "Make-up Seriously Make-up when my friends find out about this it is not going to be good! Man Make-UP! GOD WHY MAKE UP!!?" But some of the girls seemed to be thrilled at a professional hair styling and make-up session, Yippee for them I guess. After we were done with a that area we sat around for a bit getting to know one another and finding out about each others sports. We also had a chance to converse with some of the staff members who were there and were very busy but made time for a chat or two.
They had a few different possible rooms that we were suppose to shoot including outside on the roof, but due to the rain that day we were not able to go outside. We each took our turn in the room they had set-up inside for us. Arnoldo was the name of our photographer and like everyone else he was a cool person but definitely serious about his job. During the photo shoot he would say things lik "Look Strong!" and I was thinking if I look any stronger I may bust out of this shirt! But he meant look strong facially. One time he said look heroic and I could think about was what how do I look like a military person, or kind of hard to look like a fireman or police man! What is this guy talking about look heroic but he meant to stand tall with my chest out and look daring Like HERE I AM TO SAVE THE DAY!!!! But his direction were pretty good just a few times hearing it to understand what he was looking for and how he wanted us to pose. At different point during our photos we took pictures with some of our sports specific gear which was sweet if I say so my self When we were not taking pictures we all would watch each other up there to see how we were doing and looking at the pictures that were taken as they popped up on a near by computer screen.
There was also a camera crew there from Teen/Kid T.V doing individual interviews with all of us, asking the basic battery of questions. They inquired about what makes us want to do the sport we do, what would it be like to walk in the opening ceremonies, what drives us and etc. It was a nice little addition to the photo shoot in between waiting for your time to shoot.
After my first round of photos I was standing around watching someone else take their shoots when Lizzie the Sr. Director of Corporate Communications came up and asked me if I had seen my shirt. I said to Lizzie "What Shirt?" she said with a huge smile "Here come follow me!" I followed Lizzie to a rack where several white Ralph Lauren Polo's were hanging. On the front was a navy blue Polo emblem with the Name BECKOM underneath it! On the back it read BECKOM under that was TEAM USA, under that were the Olympic Rings, and under that was VANCOUVER 2010!!!! When I saw this shirt I SMILED THE BIGGEST SMILE THAT I HAVE IN A LONG TIME!!! It is unexplainable how much of a rush I felt from seeing this piece of clothing. But the meaning behind it, the meaning if God willing I will be able to wear this shirt true to form it in February can not be expressed!!! And to make it ever better right after that I saw Tanith and Ben doing their photos together wearing their 2006 Silver Medals, then Ted took the stage wearing his 2006 Gold medal!! Seeing all these things motivated more than I could ever have imagined this trip would do! Seeing them up there is where I want to be. It was not envy or jealousy but a deep respect for them and what they have accomplished and to have a clue of the hard work and sacrifice that must go into reaching that point!! The chance to be the Best hands down and to do what it takes to get there and can never be stripped from you! That is what I saw and that is what I strive to have the fortitude to achieve!
It was a great first day of shooting and getting to know everyone. After the shoot at about 6pm went back to the hotel to relax for a couple of hours before we were taken to dinner at Rosa Mexicana http://www.rosamexicano.com/, which is a high end Mexican restaurant. From the food to the atmosphere this restaurant was excellent! We had reserved table upstairs and as we walked up to the right of us was a trickling waterfall flowing over a marble wall. And what waterfall will be complete without a diver, so there were countless mini sculptures positioned to show the numerous positions of a diver jumping off a cliff. The restaurant was very well lit, the food preparation was great and served in a timely manner. We all really enjoyed the dinner which gave us a chance to realax and get to know each other a bit more.
Second and final Day of the shoot
On the second day we met Jill and Jenna (Intern) in the lobby at 8:15, piled up in the van and headed back over to Brooklyn Studios. This second day of the shoot was the individual video interview day. There was a sound studio two blocks down from our current location where we would be doing separate interviews in front of a green screen. I need to regress for a minute. Before we came out to the shoot we were requested to bring old photos, videos, and news paper articles of ourselves to be added into this project. Now, we were informed that the camera crew we were working with was really creative so I am not sure if some of the media that we gave them will be on the green screen or not. However I did make them aware that if possible I would like to be seen Flying on Falcore (you know Falcore he is the Luck Dragon from the Neverending Story) not sure if that will actually happen but if you see it....that was my ideal! lol
The green screen day was pretty straight forward. We went down to the studio in groups of two to four depending on every ones flight schedule. They had each person talk about themselves, their sports achievements, some of the technical aspects about our sports and the mental focus it takes to perform in our respective sport. We demonstrated some of the motions and positions that we put our body through. So we were jumping, running in place, flipping just your basic action shots for the most part. The more amusing things of this day was what was happening when we were waiting to go to the video studio.
The first thing was that on this second day was some of the Real models that Ralph-Lauren Polo works with were there, modeling the same outfits that we were in the day before. It seemed like they brought in some of our modeling doubles. lol One guy look like Ted with the whole beach boy ice surfer look but may have been a little bit taller. One guy look like me without the weight room of course so he was about 50lbs less than me! lol It was completely opposite in some regards because instead of having to make clothes bigger they were taking out material to make the clothes smaller to fit them. We were thinking yup they are burning all the pictures of us right now but we are glad they invited us! lol Seriously though are going to use our pictures for a campaign Ralph Lauren Polo will be starting later this year around November. I will keep you all up to date with how the project progresses so you can be on the look out for it.
Next is what I have decided to call the Bored Olympics! Not sure if any of you know it or not but most of us are in the middle of our summer training and have three days of not training, lifting weights, or running makes an athlete get a little bit restless. With that being said while we waited for our turn to go over to the studio our minds started to wonder and think of physical challenges that we could. It started off slow as I was looking up to the celling, when Noelle must have read my mind cause she asked me "Hey Jesse you think you can touch that pipe?" I was like I should be able to get about how high is it? We tried to guess it out using Noelle height as a measuring stick and mentally stacking her upon herself! Then someone remembered that the tailors had some measuring tape and Noelle and Ryan ran to the table and grabbed it. They then ran up the spiral stair case that lead to the roof and drop the measuring tape from the break in the celling to the floor. The pipe was about 12.5 feet or so, so I was really confident that I could get it with a little running start. By this time we kind of forgot that we were working in a professional environment but we also live by the rule THAT EVERYTHING IS A COMPETITION! and by Noelle asking me could I touch the pipe the competition was ON! lol In hind sight this may not have been one of our brightest ideals but hey it happens. So I take a three step running start leap into the air Touching the Pipe of course, but i forgot to control my momentum as I landed! So all 225lbs of me come hurling down to the ground full force and BOOM I land and the whole floor shook! It was so loud it was crazy! I felt like a little kid that just got in troubled when I heard Jill call out JESSE!!! We all kind of laughed and I apologized, explaining to Jill that we got a little bored.
Since the jumping was out of things we could do or should do, we had to switch gears. Luckily Ryan (The Aerialist) travels with a set of push up bars that he uses to practice his L-Sits and hand stands with, which he happily made me aware off! And I could not resist telling Ryan to break them out! Once again EVERYTHING IS A COMPETITION! It is worth mentioning that the competition we were about to begin started in Lake Placid a week prior when some of the Bobsled, Bi-athletes, aerialist and skeleton athletes were all sitting around in the hallway talking and Ryan broke out the push up bars. The goal is to hold your self in the air using your arms as you are in the L position and your feet or legs are not allowed to touch the floor. The trick is to position the majority of your mass slightly behind your arms while also tightening your abs. Ryan and I went first then we challenged some of the other athletes there to do it as well. After that the next challenge was to while holding onto each of the push up bars that were positioned on the to do a handstand. But instead of just kicking your legs over your head you had to start in a crab position with your knees on the back of your elbow then slowly raise yourself into the air. The last thing we did was to see how many push ups you could do while in the handstand position. We each held one another leg just enough ensure we kept our balance but it still is a difficult thing to do.
Now while all this was going on one of the models there who was our age (yes she was 9yrs old too! lol) broke out her video camera and recorded all of these shananggins! There was also a young 8yr old boy there who was a model and with his grandmother. We had met them earlier in the day and when he saw me doing the handstand push ups he asked his grandmother if he could give it a try. His grandmother brought him over and of course we let him join in on the fun! The little kid was actually pretty strong doing 10 push-ups! Afterward upon their request we took pictures with him and his grandmother. Little guy was smiling from ear to ear it was really Great he was a cool little kid!
Our day ended at 6:30 we said our goodbyes to one another, thanked the Ralph Lauren Polo staff for all their hard work and went on our way! This was truly a great opportunity for me to be a part off and I am still honored that I was chosen to do it! Oh and we got to keep those white Polo Shirts with our names on them. Mine is folded in a box under my bed until God willing I punch my ticket this year!
God Bless
Jesse
www.jessebeckom3.com
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Second Surgery Update Finale
Thank you for tuning back in to Channel JB3 brought to you by Mokceb Entertainment LLC.
Jesse is on his way to surgery....Sorry its hard to break character sometimes....I GOT TO FOCUS! lolOn my way to surgery at 9:00pm (March 9th) I remind the nurses that when I wake up this time and ask for water, that no one better shove a wet sponge in my mouth like they did last time!! I told them I want a real glass of water otherwise there is going to be a Fight! As I am being rolled down to the surgery it dawns on me that in my first surgery I did not remember any of my trip into the actual operating room. I immediately start to think that Mr.Hippie Anesthesiologist failed to give me enough drugs to knock me out! After that thought the next thought in my head I blame on watching too many movies on the Sci-Fi Channel. I see all these bright lights and people in mask and rubber gloves I am thinking ALIEN IMPLANT TIME OR My Head Will Be Forever Alive In A Glass Jar On a Shelf!!! And Can I Take Another Look At That Waiver I Signed! However, If they place some Bionic Implants inside my legs well.........that could just be our little secert!
After I am moved onto the surgery table the Anesthesiologist gives me some more drugs, places an oxygen mask over my face and instructs me to take a deep breath in. It was lights out after that Do Not Pass Go, Go Straight To The Land of zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!
GOOD NEWS!
But to my delight when I woke up and asked for a glass of water THEY ACTUALLY GAVE ME A GLASS OF WATER AND NOT A WET SPONGE!! Cheers to me! I was happy the procedure was over but still a bit upset that I had to stay overnight. Doc came in after the surgery and explained to me that he had successfully removed all of the standing fluid/blood out of my leg and that no signs of infection had been detected. Doc went on to tell me that he also had to cut away more of the fascia in my leg. He cut lower towards my ankle and higher towards my knee to make sure all of my muscles were full released. Doc joked and said he wanted to make sure I did not have to come back a third time! I DID NOT LAUGH! All I was thinking is that if I have to come back a third time it will not be to you because I got two Great Surgeons Doc Greenwald at ISU and Doc Thometz in Chicago that I would be calling, and I know they would get the job don on the first try!!!
Then next morning Doc came back in the room explained the operation to me again and removed the wraps that were on my legs. The pressure, pain, and swelling that was once in my leg was finally gone! It was as drastic improvement from a week ago let alone a few hours ago. I was free to leave the hospital that afternoon under my own power with a little help from my crutches of course. Three days later on the 13th I was in the training room going through my therapy exercises. My legs were starting to feel a lot stronger and I was able to walk without the need of my crutches but I continued to use them because of my Doctor's orders. I continued therapy through out the week and each day my muscles continued to get stronger and I began to regain the flexibility in my lower legs.
The next week on the 17th Doc came in to remove all of the stitches from my legs, except at the point on my right leg where he had to go back in at a week ago. I asked Doc when could I get off the crutches, he told me two more weeks. I was not thrilled about that thought at all. I also asked him when I could start running again, he said maybe a couple of weeks after I get off the crutches. I failed to tell him that I had already started jogging, back peddling and side shuffling the last couple of days now!(I am very impatient people and I personally feel that my body needs to respond when I need it to!) I had told the trainers that it would not take me the 8 or more weeks Doc had said I would need to get back to lifting and running, but they were skeptical at first! They are Believers now!
GREAT NEWS!!!
Two days later on the 19th I informed the trainers that it is harder for me to walk around with the crutches than it is walking without the crutches. This was due to me grossly over compensating on my left leg for my right leg resulting in my left leg beginning to hurt. I asked them if they thought it would be ok if I did not use my crutches for short distances like walking around the cafeteria, the gym and in my room. Because in all honestly my legs felt better when I was able to perform walking motions on my own.
Doc came back on the 23rd to remove the last of my stitches and saw me walking around the cafeteria with out my crutches, he was not amused! He joked with me saying "Hey Nice Invisible Crutches You Have Their Jesse!" I Told Him I Had A Guy That Specially Makes Them For Me! lol After we both ate lunch we went into the Training Room where Doc removed the last of my stitches and cleared me to start LIFTING WEIGHTS!!!!! AND HE SAID THAT I WAS THREE WEEKS AHEAD OF SCHEDULE IN MY HEALING!!!!!! That's What I'M Talking About Doc!!! I COULD ONLY REALLY THANK GOD FOR BLESSING ME BECAUSE I WAS SERIOUSLY PRAYING EVERY DAY OVER MY LEGS THAT THEY GET BETTER FAST! And The BIG MAN UPSTAIRS CAME THROUGH AS USUAL! Doc also gave me advice on taking it easy and that I was not fully cleared to go really heavy yet. I actually listened to him on this because I did not want to have any accidents or cause too much inflammation in my legs too soon. Ok well I sorta of, kind of, eventually listened to him! lol Ok so after I got cleared and left the training room I was not going to go and lift BUT...(please tell me you got the joke that it was a big but! lol) I had to find out how much strength I had or had not lost because I would not be able to sleep at night if I did not know, and that would not be healthy. So, I did a little warm-up for squats and my last set on squat ended up being 160k or 352lbs for seven reps! Some of my teammates were in the weight room and saw me lifting after I got cleared and just shook their head at me and said "Are you kidding me Jesse! Only you would be in the weight room now!) They didn't know I still had some GETTY stored in me! The KID was feeling GREAT!!! After that for the last couple of weeks I have only been doing 4 sets of 80k or 176lbs for 10 reps, to make sure I do not over do it.
This past Monday on the 6th I was able to step up the pace of my running/jogging and my lifting since I got fully clearance from Doc!!! I still have to go a little bit easy on my plyometric exercises but other than that ITS TIME TO ROCK AGAIN!!!!!
I am feeling good! I have more flexibility in my lower leg than I can ever remember having, my strength has not really drooped off any and most importantly I continue to pray that my recovery continues to progress and I do not have any set backs!!! I also have some good trainers and strength people up here who are giving me everything I need to stay healthy, stronger and faster than I have ever been!
I am currently lifting three days a week (depending on how my legs are feeling), doing therapy five days a week (7 total therapy sessions a week) and running sorry jogging twice a week. lol And I will be able to sprint next week!!
Just want to say thank you for everyones well wishes and prayers!
God Bless you all!
Jesse
Jesse is on his way to surgery....Sorry its hard to break character sometimes....I GOT TO FOCUS! lolOn my way to surgery at 9:00pm (March 9th) I remind the nurses that when I wake up this time and ask for water, that no one better shove a wet sponge in my mouth like they did last time!! I told them I want a real glass of water otherwise there is going to be a Fight! As I am being rolled down to the surgery it dawns on me that in my first surgery I did not remember any of my trip into the actual operating room. I immediately start to think that Mr.Hippie Anesthesiologist failed to give me enough drugs to knock me out! After that thought the next thought in my head I blame on watching too many movies on the Sci-Fi Channel. I see all these bright lights and people in mask and rubber gloves I am thinking ALIEN IMPLANT TIME OR My Head Will Be Forever Alive In A Glass Jar On a Shelf!!! And Can I Take Another Look At That Waiver I Signed! However, If they place some Bionic Implants inside my legs well.........that could just be our little secert!
After I am moved onto the surgery table the Anesthesiologist gives me some more drugs, places an oxygen mask over my face and instructs me to take a deep breath in. It was lights out after that Do Not Pass Go, Go Straight To The Land of zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!
GOOD NEWS!
But to my delight when I woke up and asked for a glass of water THEY ACTUALLY GAVE ME A GLASS OF WATER AND NOT A WET SPONGE!! Cheers to me! I was happy the procedure was over but still a bit upset that I had to stay overnight. Doc came in after the surgery and explained to me that he had successfully removed all of the standing fluid/blood out of my leg and that no signs of infection had been detected. Doc went on to tell me that he also had to cut away more of the fascia in my leg. He cut lower towards my ankle and higher towards my knee to make sure all of my muscles were full released. Doc joked and said he wanted to make sure I did not have to come back a third time! I DID NOT LAUGH! All I was thinking is that if I have to come back a third time it will not be to you because I got two Great Surgeons Doc Greenwald at ISU and Doc Thometz in Chicago that I would be calling, and I know they would get the job don on the first try!!!
Then next morning Doc came back in the room explained the operation to me again and removed the wraps that were on my legs. The pressure, pain, and swelling that was once in my leg was finally gone! It was as drastic improvement from a week ago let alone a few hours ago. I was free to leave the hospital that afternoon under my own power with a little help from my crutches of course. Three days later on the 13th I was in the training room going through my therapy exercises. My legs were starting to feel a lot stronger and I was able to walk without the need of my crutches but I continued to use them because of my Doctor's orders. I continued therapy through out the week and each day my muscles continued to get stronger and I began to regain the flexibility in my lower legs.
The next week on the 17th Doc came in to remove all of the stitches from my legs, except at the point on my right leg where he had to go back in at a week ago. I asked Doc when could I get off the crutches, he told me two more weeks. I was not thrilled about that thought at all. I also asked him when I could start running again, he said maybe a couple of weeks after I get off the crutches. I failed to tell him that I had already started jogging, back peddling and side shuffling the last couple of days now!(I am very impatient people and I personally feel that my body needs to respond when I need it to!) I had told the trainers that it would not take me the 8 or more weeks Doc had said I would need to get back to lifting and running, but they were skeptical at first! They are Believers now!
GREAT NEWS!!!
Two days later on the 19th I informed the trainers that it is harder for me to walk around with the crutches than it is walking without the crutches. This was due to me grossly over compensating on my left leg for my right leg resulting in my left leg beginning to hurt. I asked them if they thought it would be ok if I did not use my crutches for short distances like walking around the cafeteria, the gym and in my room. Because in all honestly my legs felt better when I was able to perform walking motions on my own.
Doc came back on the 23rd to remove the last of my stitches and saw me walking around the cafeteria with out my crutches, he was not amused! He joked with me saying "Hey Nice Invisible Crutches You Have Their Jesse!" I Told Him I Had A Guy That Specially Makes Them For Me! lol After we both ate lunch we went into the Training Room where Doc removed the last of my stitches and cleared me to start LIFTING WEIGHTS!!!!! AND HE SAID THAT I WAS THREE WEEKS AHEAD OF SCHEDULE IN MY HEALING!!!!!! That's What I'M Talking About Doc!!! I COULD ONLY REALLY THANK GOD FOR BLESSING ME BECAUSE I WAS SERIOUSLY PRAYING EVERY DAY OVER MY LEGS THAT THEY GET BETTER FAST! And The BIG MAN UPSTAIRS CAME THROUGH AS USUAL! Doc also gave me advice on taking it easy and that I was not fully cleared to go really heavy yet. I actually listened to him on this because I did not want to have any accidents or cause too much inflammation in my legs too soon. Ok well I sorta of, kind of, eventually listened to him! lol Ok so after I got cleared and left the training room I was not going to go and lift BUT...(please tell me you got the joke that it was a big but! lol) I had to find out how much strength I had or had not lost because I would not be able to sleep at night if I did not know, and that would not be healthy. So, I did a little warm-up for squats and my last set on squat ended up being 160k or 352lbs for seven reps! Some of my teammates were in the weight room and saw me lifting after I got cleared and just shook their head at me and said "Are you kidding me Jesse! Only you would be in the weight room now!) They didn't know I still had some GETTY stored in me! The KID was feeling GREAT!!! After that for the last couple of weeks I have only been doing 4 sets of 80k or 176lbs for 10 reps, to make sure I do not over do it.
This past Monday on the 6th I was able to step up the pace of my running/jogging and my lifting since I got fully clearance from Doc!!! I still have to go a little bit easy on my plyometric exercises but other than that ITS TIME TO ROCK AGAIN!!!!!
I am feeling good! I have more flexibility in my lower leg than I can ever remember having, my strength has not really drooped off any and most importantly I continue to pray that my recovery continues to progress and I do not have any set backs!!! I also have some good trainers and strength people up here who are giving me everything I need to stay healthy, stronger and faster than I have ever been!
I am currently lifting three days a week (depending on how my legs are feeling), doing therapy five days a week (7 total therapy sessions a week) and running sorry jogging twice a week. lol And I will be able to sprint next week!!
Just want to say thank you for everyones well wishes and prayers!
God Bless you all!
Jesse
Second Surgery and Training Update
April 7, 2009
Good morning everyone!
I have a little bad news, Good News, and GREAT News!
BAD NEWS FIRST.
As you all know I had surgery on March second on both my lower legs for compartment syndrome. Well after that surgery I came back to the OTC and my legs were starting to feel a little bit better. However, my right leg was still more swollen than my left leg, which was initially attributed to more cutting needing to be done in that leg. After being back at the OTC for a few days, and walking around on my crutches I noticed that it became more and more painful to put any type of pressure on my right leg. I immediately let my trainers know what was going on and asked them if they thought it was possible that I had some sort of infection. They went through a gauntlet of questions with me to determine if in fact any infection was going on. It was determined that I did not have any type of infection. But I knew something was not right. One more day had gone by and the pain was really starting to build. Being that I needed the healing pads covering my stitches changed out, I talked with our head trainer and told him how my leg was feeling. He texted the doctor (It was Doc's surgery day and texting him works better because he is in and out of the office) informing him about what was going on with me. Doc, called the training room in about 5 minutes to talk with my trainer to figure out what was all happening with me. Evidently they were worried that the blood was not flowing in and out of my leg properly. We went over some symptoms I was having to see if I was experiencing a blood clot, but the symptoms were not consistent with a blood clot. Doc was still a little bit concerned and said he would call back a little later when he had more time to talk.
After Doc got off the phone I spoke a little bit more with my head trainer and he informed me that one of the tell tell signs would be if that a section of my leg was shinny like it was directly after my surgery. Little background information for everyone, before a surgery a nurse(s) come in to shave and rub iodine around the area that is going to be operated on. Once this is done this area becomes extremely shinny and almost metallic looking. Swelling also occurs around the area due to the body's way of healing itself causing the skin to be over stretched. Not seeing any of these tell tell signs I went through my normal therapy exercises, iced down and went to go take a shower before we put the healing pads on my legs.
This is where it gets interesting....I get out of the shower and as I begin to dry off what do I notice? Yup you guessed it! On the inside of my leg where most of the pain has been occurring is really shinning, People my leg looks like a Penny Fresh from the USA Mint! lol All I am thinking at this point in GREAT just what I needed! Not only is it shinny but a boil or something has popped up as well. I get dressed as soon as possible and cruthc my way back down to the training room and show my Head Trainer my leg! He immediately calls Doc and lets him know the situation. Doc was evidently in surgery again because he did not respond back. My head trainer tells me he will let me know what Doc says so I go back to my room at about Noon . At 1pm I get a call from one of the other trainers telling me that Doc wants to see me in his office within the hour so he can look at my leg really quick. At this point I already know this is not going to be a short examination! lol Especially since he has surgery's scheduled all day and he is taking time in between surgeries to look at my leg.
We get to the hospital, they sit me in a waiting room and about ten minutes later Doc comes in. Doc is as cheerful as ever, like I mentioned before he loves surgery and he has been doing them all day. He looks at my leg and orders a ultrasound be done so they can see what is going on inside. While Doc is walking out of the room he ask me "hey when was the last time you had something to eat" I told him about two hours ago, he says "Oh OK" and continues on down the hall. I immediately look at the trainer that brought me to the hospital and asked, That was a surgery question wasn't it? He said uhmmmmm....Yeah! This is the point where I start to realize I have a 40% chance of walking out of this hospital today.
I go down for the ultra sound and they find that I do not have a blood clot but there is 13 centimeters of standing fluid and blood inside my leg which is causing the swelling and added pain. I am thinking ok no big deal just go ahead stick a needle in there and suck it out! Right? Right? Yeah......I am not a doctor! lol Doc comes back in to the room, while standing at the foot of the table I am on and stares at the results. He starts to talk about what he see.....then he pauses.....looks up at me then walks around to my right side! I look at him and I say DON"T EVEN SAY IT!........... YOU HAVE TO OPERATE AGAIN DON'T YOU! Doc shook his head yes and said he needs to go in and extract the fluid and make sure no infection has set in! This is not what I wanted to hear!
I finish this lovely conversation with Doc about 2:30pm, which is when the nurse comes in and rolls me out down to the preoperative holding room. My trainer walked down with us but had to leave for another appointment. This worked out pretty good for him because initially I was suppose to be operated on within the next hour which soon became 5 HOURS but I will come back to that! Because now I get to tell you about my Really Fun Time of Playing HUMAN PIN CUSHION!!!...it was fun everyone should try it! lol I am laying in the hospital bed when my nurse Nancy comes in to insert my I.V. While she is trying to do this I see my nurse from last week Wendy walks by and she says "Hey what are you doing back here and where are your Sisters!?" lol We talked about what was going on and she told my current nurse that she is getting off easy today because my sisters were not there to interrogate here!! I then here Wendy telling the other nurses at the nurses station about how my sisters questioned beat her up with question! It was really funny she kept saying that it was not fair that my current nurse was getting off so easy! lol
For whatever reason my nurse seemed a bit distracted or flustered for some reason. It showed a she was trying to insert my I.V, she got the needle in my arm and somehow missed the vein she was going for so she moved the needle left and right in my arm trying to catch the vein. She finally catches the vein but some how it got blown and she could not use it. She takes the needle out and goes for another vein....Can yo guess what happened? Yeah she did the same thing, this woman is providing the definition of insanity in my arm right now. You know doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result! lol. Besides being frustrated with the fact that she was going to go for a third attempt I could not help but think that...God must really like this nurse Because she seriously Lucked out that none of my sisters were there with me!!! Because they would have thrown Nancy in a Head Lock Soooo Quick she would not have time to say "Let me try again"! On Nancy's third attempt knowing that she is having no luck getting this I.V in she decides to bring in the lefty from the dug out, namely Nurse Lisa. Nurse Lisa tries to get the I.V. in my arm and working properly but she fails on her first attempt! Evidently I a came to Hospital Las Vegas because these people keep rolling the dice on my Veins!! NOW...I am really getting frustrated, I am thinking ok, you all get one more shot before I call for another nurse! Finally on the fifth try, and after switching from my right arm to my left arm they successfully get the I.V. into my arm. They tell me that it is flowing slow but it will be ok! UHM....No! See this does not work for me at all!
Thankfully Wendy the nurse from my first operation was still wandering the halls and I was able to call her in to redo my I.V. By this time I a visibly unhappy, I told her the situation and I am not confident with this I.V and have serious concerns about whether or not the anesthesia would flow effectively or not. Wendy takes out my current I.V. attempts to put another one in! This is really not my day! Wendy's first attempt fails but her first attempt was Golden, the I.V. was in and flowing normal! THANK GOD!! Its around 3:15 now. Doc comes in at about 4:30 to let me know he has one more quick surgery and that I will be next. At 6:00pm I ask the nurse what was taking so long, she informed me that the surgery before mine is taking longer than they expected.
At 7:00 pm I had the privilege of getting the one Hippie anesthesiologist in the whole hospital! This guy strolls in all melo lik with long stringy hair, scruffy beard and is talking to me like I am just one of the guys in his Friday night smoking club! He runs through the usual list of options for anesthesia. I inform him that I do not want any tubes stuck down my throat and into my lungs. He understands the reason why and goes on to tell me about a lawsuit he is currently involved with where his throat was damaged a bit after he had tubes stuck down it during a surgical procedure. He then tells me about some anesthesia that he can give me that would require no tubes, but they use to use it in VIETNAM! EXCUSE ME MR CHEECH! DID YOU SAY VIETNAM!? He continues his little speech and tells me that they use to give it to soldiers on the battlefield after they had been shot and they would just leave them there until they can attend to them. He said that some people wake up feeling nauseated and it causes others to hallucinate!! By this time I am looking at this guy in disbelief while I am giving his ID Badge another look over!
I throw this guy one the sternest look that I have in my arsenal and tell him "Listen the fact that you just said VIETNAM, NAUSEA AND HALLUCINATION all in describing this particular anesthesia THERE IS NO WAY THAT WILL BE AN OPTION FOR ME SO GO AHEAD AND MARK THAT OFF YOUR LIST! Then he says well maybe we can come back to that one. EXCUSE ME HIPPIE MAN DID YOU NOT HEAR WHAT I JUST SAID THAT IS NOT AN OPTION! I then made it clear to him that the possibility of me waking up hallucinating and thinking I am surrounded by monsters or something might result to some serious harm for him and any other person attending to me who I mistake for a creature from out of space! He Seem To Amazingly Ge The Point This Time!
He goes on to tell me about the other options. I said I would like to be awake if possible, and I did not want an epidural because I did not like waking up with my lower body completely numb. He said ok, well let me go talk to Doc and see what his recommendations are, then we can see what you both agree on. As he is leaving he asks me to sign the release form saying that I agree to have an anesthesia administered. I tell him Listen Man, I am not signing anything until me and Doc have agreed to what type of anesthesia I will be receiving. So after you get done talking to Doc, come back and tell me what he thinks I should do then I will make my decision and only then will I sign your release! We finally agreed to putting me to sleep and having a tube placed in my throat but only to the top of my esophagus. After that lovely dialogue they start to role me down to surgery. But this e-mail is long enough so I will finish the story in the next email. TO BE
CONTINUED........Duh............Duh............Duh.........Duh!
P.S I always wanted to end an email like that so do not be surprised if it happens again!
God Bless
Jesse
Good morning everyone!
I have a little bad news, Good News, and GREAT News!
BAD NEWS FIRST.
As you all know I had surgery on March second on both my lower legs for compartment syndrome. Well after that surgery I came back to the OTC and my legs were starting to feel a little bit better. However, my right leg was still more swollen than my left leg, which was initially attributed to more cutting needing to be done in that leg. After being back at the OTC for a few days, and walking around on my crutches I noticed that it became more and more painful to put any type of pressure on my right leg. I immediately let my trainers know what was going on and asked them if they thought it was possible that I had some sort of infection. They went through a gauntlet of questions with me to determine if in fact any infection was going on. It was determined that I did not have any type of infection. But I knew something was not right. One more day had gone by and the pain was really starting to build. Being that I needed the healing pads covering my stitches changed out, I talked with our head trainer and told him how my leg was feeling. He texted the doctor (It was Doc's surgery day and texting him works better because he is in and out of the office) informing him about what was going on with me. Doc, called the training room in about 5 minutes to talk with my trainer to figure out what was all happening with me. Evidently they were worried that the blood was not flowing in and out of my leg properly. We went over some symptoms I was having to see if I was experiencing a blood clot, but the symptoms were not consistent with a blood clot. Doc was still a little bit concerned and said he would call back a little later when he had more time to talk.
After Doc got off the phone I spoke a little bit more with my head trainer and he informed me that one of the tell tell signs would be if that a section of my leg was shinny like it was directly after my surgery. Little background information for everyone, before a surgery a nurse(s) come in to shave and rub iodine around the area that is going to be operated on. Once this is done this area becomes extremely shinny and almost metallic looking. Swelling also occurs around the area due to the body's way of healing itself causing the skin to be over stretched. Not seeing any of these tell tell signs I went through my normal therapy exercises, iced down and went to go take a shower before we put the healing pads on my legs.
This is where it gets interesting....I get out of the shower and as I begin to dry off what do I notice? Yup you guessed it! On the inside of my leg where most of the pain has been occurring is really shinning, People my leg looks like a Penny Fresh from the USA Mint! lol All I am thinking at this point in GREAT just what I needed! Not only is it shinny but a boil or something has popped up as well. I get dressed as soon as possible and cruthc my way back down to the training room and show my Head Trainer my leg! He immediately calls Doc and lets him know the situation. Doc was evidently in surgery again because he did not respond back. My head trainer tells me he will let me know what Doc says so I go back to my room at about Noon . At 1pm I get a call from one of the other trainers telling me that Doc wants to see me in his office within the hour so he can look at my leg really quick. At this point I already know this is not going to be a short examination! lol Especially since he has surgery's scheduled all day and he is taking time in between surgeries to look at my leg.
We get to the hospital, they sit me in a waiting room and about ten minutes later Doc comes in. Doc is as cheerful as ever, like I mentioned before he loves surgery and he has been doing them all day. He looks at my leg and orders a ultrasound be done so they can see what is going on inside. While Doc is walking out of the room he ask me "hey when was the last time you had something to eat" I told him about two hours ago, he says "Oh OK" and continues on down the hall. I immediately look at the trainer that brought me to the hospital and asked, That was a surgery question wasn't it? He said uhmmmmm....Yeah! This is the point where I start to realize I have a 40% chance of walking out of this hospital today.
I go down for the ultra sound and they find that I do not have a blood clot but there is 13 centimeters of standing fluid and blood inside my leg which is causing the swelling and added pain. I am thinking ok no big deal just go ahead stick a needle in there and suck it out! Right? Right? Yeah......I am not a doctor! lol Doc comes back in to the room, while standing at the foot of the table I am on and stares at the results. He starts to talk about what he see.....then he pauses.....looks up at me then walks around to my right side! I look at him and I say DON"T EVEN SAY IT!........... YOU HAVE TO OPERATE AGAIN DON'T YOU! Doc shook his head yes and said he needs to go in and extract the fluid and make sure no infection has set in! This is not what I wanted to hear!
I finish this lovely conversation with Doc about 2:30pm, which is when the nurse comes in and rolls me out down to the preoperative holding room. My trainer walked down with us but had to leave for another appointment. This worked out pretty good for him because initially I was suppose to be operated on within the next hour which soon became 5 HOURS but I will come back to that! Because now I get to tell you about my Really Fun Time of Playing HUMAN PIN CUSHION!!!...it was fun everyone should try it! lol I am laying in the hospital bed when my nurse Nancy comes in to insert my I.V. While she is trying to do this I see my nurse from last week Wendy walks by and she says "Hey what are you doing back here and where are your Sisters!?" lol We talked about what was going on and she told my current nurse that she is getting off easy today because my sisters were not there to interrogate here!! I then here Wendy telling the other nurses at the nurses station about how my sisters questioned beat her up with question! It was really funny she kept saying that it was not fair that my current nurse was getting off so easy! lol
For whatever reason my nurse seemed a bit distracted or flustered for some reason. It showed a she was trying to insert my I.V, she got the needle in my arm and somehow missed the vein she was going for so she moved the needle left and right in my arm trying to catch the vein. She finally catches the vein but some how it got blown and she could not use it. She takes the needle out and goes for another vein....Can yo guess what happened? Yeah she did the same thing, this woman is providing the definition of insanity in my arm right now. You know doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result! lol. Besides being frustrated with the fact that she was going to go for a third attempt I could not help but think that...God must really like this nurse Because she seriously Lucked out that none of my sisters were there with me!!! Because they would have thrown Nancy in a Head Lock Soooo Quick she would not have time to say "Let me try again"! On Nancy's third attempt knowing that she is having no luck getting this I.V in she decides to bring in the lefty from the dug out, namely Nurse Lisa. Nurse Lisa tries to get the I.V. in my arm and working properly but she fails on her first attempt! Evidently I a came to Hospital Las Vegas because these people keep rolling the dice on my Veins!! NOW...I am really getting frustrated, I am thinking ok, you all get one more shot before I call for another nurse! Finally on the fifth try, and after switching from my right arm to my left arm they successfully get the I.V. into my arm. They tell me that it is flowing slow but it will be ok! UHM....No! See this does not work for me at all!
Thankfully Wendy the nurse from my first operation was still wandering the halls and I was able to call her in to redo my I.V. By this time I a visibly unhappy, I told her the situation and I am not confident with this I.V and have serious concerns about whether or not the anesthesia would flow effectively or not. Wendy takes out my current I.V. attempts to put another one in! This is really not my day! Wendy's first attempt fails but her first attempt was Golden, the I.V. was in and flowing normal! THANK GOD!! Its around 3:15 now. Doc comes in at about 4:30 to let me know he has one more quick surgery and that I will be next. At 6:00pm I ask the nurse what was taking so long, she informed me that the surgery before mine is taking longer than they expected.
At 7:00 pm I had the privilege of getting the one Hippie anesthesiologist in the whole hospital! This guy strolls in all melo lik with long stringy hair, scruffy beard and is talking to me like I am just one of the guys in his Friday night smoking club! He runs through the usual list of options for anesthesia. I inform him that I do not want any tubes stuck down my throat and into my lungs. He understands the reason why and goes on to tell me about a lawsuit he is currently involved with where his throat was damaged a bit after he had tubes stuck down it during a surgical procedure. He then tells me about some anesthesia that he can give me that would require no tubes, but they use to use it in VIETNAM! EXCUSE ME MR CHEECH! DID YOU SAY VIETNAM!? He continues his little speech and tells me that they use to give it to soldiers on the battlefield after they had been shot and they would just leave them there until they can attend to them. He said that some people wake up feeling nauseated and it causes others to hallucinate!! By this time I am looking at this guy in disbelief while I am giving his ID Badge another look over!
I throw this guy one the sternest look that I have in my arsenal and tell him "Listen the fact that you just said VIETNAM, NAUSEA AND HALLUCINATION all in describing this particular anesthesia THERE IS NO WAY THAT WILL BE AN OPTION FOR ME SO GO AHEAD AND MARK THAT OFF YOUR LIST! Then he says well maybe we can come back to that one. EXCUSE ME HIPPIE MAN DID YOU NOT HEAR WHAT I JUST SAID THAT IS NOT AN OPTION! I then made it clear to him that the possibility of me waking up hallucinating and thinking I am surrounded by monsters or something might result to some serious harm for him and any other person attending to me who I mistake for a creature from out of space! He Seem To Amazingly Ge The Point This Time!
He goes on to tell me about the other options. I said I would like to be awake if possible, and I did not want an epidural because I did not like waking up with my lower body completely numb. He said ok, well let me go talk to Doc and see what his recommendations are, then we can see what you both agree on. As he is leaving he asks me to sign the release form saying that I agree to have an anesthesia administered. I tell him Listen Man, I am not signing anything until me and Doc have agreed to what type of anesthesia I will be receiving. So after you get done talking to Doc, come back and tell me what he thinks I should do then I will make my decision and only then will I sign your release! We finally agreed to putting me to sleep and having a tube placed in my throat but only to the top of my esophagus. After that lovely dialogue they start to role me down to surgery. But this e-mail is long enough so I will finish the story in the next email. TO BE
CONTINUED........Duh............Duh............Duh.........Duh!
P.S I always wanted to end an email like that so do not be surprised if it happens again!
God Bless
Jesse
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Surgery.....I Stand Before Thee
HI!!
Little background info I am having surgery on both my lower legs for what has been termed "Chronic Exertional Compartment Syndrome". This lead to poor flexability in my legs, added with a loss of muscle stregth at different periods. Please try to hold of your laughter...so basically the muscles in my lower leg got to big for the compartments that house them. The doctor went into my legs and cut away some of the fascia that encases my muscles so they can fully expand the way they need to.
After a night of dancing like it was my job It was off to Saranac Lake to have surgery performed by our team doctor Dr.Byrne!!! This is one of those moments where I know I need to get the surgery but not necessarily excited to have it. It was not the actual fact that I had to be cut open but more so the thought of not being able to walk and run on my power for a while, let alone not being able to really lift for 8 WEEKS! WE ARE TALKING 8 WEEKS HERE PEOPLE!!! I have NEVER gone 1 week without stepping in a weight room and doing something! So this whole 8 week thing is definitely going to be a little different for me to say the least!
In order to make the trip to the hospital easy or more annoying...............lol, two of my older sisters Ulanka and Tina drove me to the Hospital. Well actually Tina drove and Ulanka sat in the back trying to figure out where in the boonies she was!! LOL Sorry Ulanka.....and she had a GPS UNIT! lol Guess getting lost runs in our family....well that is unless you talk to pops!! but he would not admit to it anyway, and I digress! Oh and for those who every wonder why I do not use the the semi-colon and the colon in my writing much at all it because nothing about me says Semi and come on the word colon speaks for its self and....its my email! SO HA!!! HA! HA! HA! THIS IS SPARTAAAAAAAAAAAAA!! (giving full credit to the writers of 300....P.S I have no money to sue me for) But, I do admit it was cool having my sisters in the hospital with me! Save the Awwwwwwwwww's people "Seriously"
I checked in to the hospital on Monday 02, 2009at 8:30 am to receive the instructions of where I need to go for 10:40 am scheduled surgery. My sisters and I walked down to the surgery waiting room, shortly a nurse comes in and walks us down to one of those curtained off rooms with a hospital bed and a few chairs in it. Evidently the nurse assumed that one of my sister's was my wife or girlfriend because she offered them to stay in the room while I changed into my hospital garments....umm yeah my sisters let her know it was not that type of party!
After I changed out of my street clothes my sisters and the nurse all reentered the room. The nurse begins to tell me about options for anesthesia that are available to me. The first option was for me to be awake and administered an epidural that would numb me from the chest down, they would also place screen in front of my waist so I can not see the actual surgery. Second, was to be completely knocked out and a tube placed down my throat so I can breathe. YOU know what I am thinking....TUBE down MY throat? I can just see it now.... some med school student shoving a tube down my throat Screaming Out DOCTOR!!! I Need Some Help I Think The Tube Is Stuck On His Lungs AGAIN!! Naw Miss Nurse I will pass on that option. LOL The final option, was to be given a lesser form of sedation that would allow me to breathe without any assistance, and administered the epidural that would numb me from the waist down. I actually wanted the first option of being awake through the surgery, in talking with the nurse this was not an option since I was having both legs done. In the end I chose the third option.
The nurse continued to question me about my health history and etc. She asked if I had any other questions, which I really did not have since I had been talking to Dr. Bryne and my trainers all week. My nurse made the fatal error of thinking just because I.... did not have any questions that here job of answering was done! Poor Poor Nurse Do You NOT SEE MY SISTERS OVER IN THE CORNER JUST ITCHING TO ASK YOU EVERYTHING FROM HERE TO THERE!!! LOL I have to admit I was just waiting for my sisters to strike cause I knew they would! Now just for the record, NONE of my sister are soft by any means (One was in the Marines, One in the Army, One a school teacher you would not want to cross, and One who is currently a Chief in the Navy!) and they WISH....(They Have Dreams About People Getting Out Of Line Just To Give Them A Reason to Do Something) someone would try to get something over on their little brother! lol It was like watching a tag team wrestling match! My sister Ulanka (Navy) would ask a question and before the nurse could answer Tina (Army) would add a little bit and vice versa!!! It was brilliant, they even made the nurse go find a form that enabled family members to call in and ask intimate questions about my surgery and status. The nurse did not even know that such a form existed....How Great is That!!! I was Like What! Mmmmhhmmmm that's right I brought some SOLDIERS up in here with me today!! "SHOCK AND AWE BABE" "SHOCK AND AWE"!!! I guess God figured that I needed a little more humor in my life because after my sisters got done shinning the flash light in the nurses eyes, here comes the anesthesiologist! Yup Round 2 Babe! Actually, this guy was ready for the questions and was pretty happy to answer making it slightly less amusing but my sisters hit him up with questions anyway. The anesthesiologist repeated my different options about the surgery with a little more detail about the Anastasia I would be receiving. After he left Doctor Byrne came in marked on my legs information regarding the surgery answered a couple of questions, then reluctantly took my sister's camera so pictures could be taken of the procedure. These pictures can be viewed at www.jessebeckom3.com on my "Media" page. The Minster of the North Country Ministries Pastor Derek Spain was also at the hospital with me before the surgery to keep me company and to say a prayer for me before I went in to play with Edward Scissor Hands! LoL I also thought that was pretty cool!
Once Doc left the anesthesiologist came back administered the anesthesia, then wheeled me into the operating room. Once in the operating room he asked me to move over to the operating table, had me sit up so they can administer the epidural and that is all I remember until I woke up! The Kid was OUT COLD!
Being that I have a sets of three stitches in each of my legs now I can only assume that while I was sleeping Doc did what he needed to do! The funny thing about waking up after surgery is that your vision is not really as clear as it should be. Personally for me I felt like I was in a dream sequence of some sort, I mean things are happening around me that I have no control over. I hear nurses talking to me and can barely make them out. I asked for water and a nurse rubbed some weird water filled sponge across my lips....Yeah exactly! I thought I was going crazy so I asked for water again! Sure enough she hit me the sponge! lol My throat is dry as the Gobi Desert and this nurse keeps hitting me the sponge! What is this all about. All I am thinking is you are so lucky I can not move my arms right now cause I would throw that sponge across the room so fast....it would make her head spin, and she would break her neck trying to get me a glass of water! Now to add to my feeling of craziness, someone thought it was a good ideal to have two nurses named Patty helping me as I come back to consciousness. So me being the brilliant person I am I asked these two women their names about five different times a piece, wondering why is the name the same but I SWEAR THIS WOMAN FACE IS CHANGING EVERY TIME I ASK HER WHAT HER NAME IS. Keep in mind I half way awake and the other half of me is playing in the field of dreams with Papa Smurf and He-Man! I do not know whats going on except in that in this new land I am all the water has turned into sponges, every woman has the same name!! lol
The nurses rolled me back to my room where I slowly start to phase back into reality. By this time my sister Tina and her family are on there way back home and my sister Ulanka was on her way back to the hospital. Ulanka had already made plans to stay in town till Thursday just in-case I needed anything after surgery! Pretty cool once again! At 4:30pm my mind finally decides to fully come back to this plane of existence, with my appetite bringing up the rear! I see one of the nurses in my room and I ask her can I have some food? She says to me" you just got out of surgery you should get some rest!" EXCUSE ME!? Does She Not Know I Have Not Eaten Since Last Night! I inform her that I have had plenty of sleep and I need some food because I have not eating anything since 12am the previous night! She complies and ends up grabbing me a turkey club from the Hospital Cafeteria. About two hours later I get a text message from my friend Julie letting me know that her and some of the other girls on the team are coming to visit me. Being that Julie knows my strict diet she asks.............SO, what do you want from McDonald's? YES!!! THANK YOU JULZ!! I would like two cheeseburgers, fries and a drink please! They show up with my McDonald's a pound bag of M&M's, and a bag of Gummie Worms!!!!! I am GOOD real GOOD right now! It was sweet that they came to hospital and chilled with me for a bit.
After they left one of the nurses came by and asked me if I had gone to the bathroom yet (bathroom being that little portable plastic container that they give men)? I told he no I have not yet gone. She tells me "You have until 11:30pm to go" Say what? What do you mean I have until 11:30.....I am like what happens at 11:30? She tells me that if I have not gone by then they would have give me a decatheter! Decatahwho? You fixin Coffee or something!? Naw Miss Nurse The Kid is not playing that game!!!! I grabbed that little bottle so quick like I Neo in the Matrix, Said a couple of Prayers and Said SELF!!! Oh God SELF LETS GET IT DONE SO I DO NOT HAVE TO FIGHT ANYONE IN HERE!!! cause they trying to decaffeinate me! LOL Soon as the nurse came back in the room I pointed to the bottle and was like there you go...enjoy! Save you inquisition tactics for someone else lady!
Doctor Byrne came by the next day to check on my status. I have not had a chance to mention it but Dr.Byrne is a funny dude who loves surgery!!! He tells me the surgery went well and that I my recovery should go good. This is the same man that last week when I was in the training room with one of the trainers Josh told Josh that he should come watch the surgery its going to be bloody! I say its going to be what then he tells me oh I mean its going to be cool! "WHAT" hold Doc!..you can not go from bloody to cool in one breath and expect me to believe the latter! Then he says in 12wks you will be back lifting and running! WHAT Did You Just Say DOC, 12wks!? You Told Me 8wks before I had the surgery! Then he said 8wks before I am able to lift and run and about 12wks before I am back at full strength! Ok Doc that's a little bit better! I told him to stop playing with me! He just laughed then says that Mike said he did not feel really better for 6 months!! I did not pay him any attention this time! I was suppose to be in the hospital for one night but he decided to keep me in another night to make sure I stay off my feet completely a little longer.
On Wednesday morning Dr.Byrne came in changed my badinage's and released me from the hospital. My sister Ulanka and Pastor Derek were both there to help me back to the OTC (Olympic Training Center). Both of them had actually visited me ever-day I was in the hospital! The nurse actually asked me would I prefer to get wheeled out or walk out? I said walk out before she could even finish her question. Thank God I am able to use crutches instead of being restricted to a wheel chair!
This is the first time in my life I have ever had to use crutches. Needless to say learning how to walk on these things around the OTC is definitely interesting. Some of the athletes from other sports who did not know I was having surgery thought I was playing around and could not believe that I was actually on crutches! I have never really been hurt so it was something new for them as well as myself. It is a humbling experience but it is not permanent and I know that GOD has given me the mental capacity, determination, and support I need to come back soon and better than ever.
I will continue to update you all on my progress as I get back to form but until then have a great week and Thank You For Your Support This Season!!!!
God Bless,
Jesse B
www.jessebeckom3.com
www.jessebeckom.blogspot.com
Little background info I am having surgery on both my lower legs for what has been termed "Chronic Exertional Compartment Syndrome". This lead to poor flexability in my legs, added with a loss of muscle stregth at different periods. Please try to hold of your laughter...so basically the muscles in my lower leg got to big for the compartments that house them. The doctor went into my legs and cut away some of the fascia that encases my muscles so they can fully expand the way they need to.
After a night of dancing like it was my job It was off to Saranac Lake to have surgery performed by our team doctor Dr.Byrne!!! This is one of those moments where I know I need to get the surgery but not necessarily excited to have it. It was not the actual fact that I had to be cut open but more so the thought of not being able to walk and run on my power for a while, let alone not being able to really lift for 8 WEEKS! WE ARE TALKING 8 WEEKS HERE PEOPLE!!! I have NEVER gone 1 week without stepping in a weight room and doing something! So this whole 8 week thing is definitely going to be a little different for me to say the least!
In order to make the trip to the hospital easy or more annoying...............lol, two of my older sisters Ulanka and Tina drove me to the Hospital. Well actually Tina drove and Ulanka sat in the back trying to figure out where in the boonies she was!! LOL Sorry Ulanka.....and she had a GPS UNIT! lol Guess getting lost runs in our family....well that is unless you talk to pops!! but he would not admit to it anyway, and I digress! Oh and for those who every wonder why I do not use the the semi-colon and the colon in my writing much at all it because nothing about me says Semi and come on the word colon speaks for its self and....its my email! SO HA!!! HA! HA! HA! THIS IS SPARTAAAAAAAAAAAAA!! (giving full credit to the writers of 300....P.S I have no money to sue me for) But, I do admit it was cool having my sisters in the hospital with me! Save the Awwwwwwwwww's people "Seriously"
I checked in to the hospital on Monday 02, 2009at 8:30 am to receive the instructions of where I need to go for 10:40 am scheduled surgery. My sisters and I walked down to the surgery waiting room, shortly a nurse comes in and walks us down to one of those curtained off rooms with a hospital bed and a few chairs in it. Evidently the nurse assumed that one of my sister's was my wife or girlfriend because she offered them to stay in the room while I changed into my hospital garments....umm yeah my sisters let her know it was not that type of party!
After I changed out of my street clothes my sisters and the nurse all reentered the room. The nurse begins to tell me about options for anesthesia that are available to me. The first option was for me to be awake and administered an epidural that would numb me from the chest down, they would also place screen in front of my waist so I can not see the actual surgery. Second, was to be completely knocked out and a tube placed down my throat so I can breathe. YOU know what I am thinking....TUBE down MY throat? I can just see it now.... some med school student shoving a tube down my throat Screaming Out DOCTOR!!! I Need Some Help I Think The Tube Is Stuck On His Lungs AGAIN!! Naw Miss Nurse I will pass on that option. LOL The final option, was to be given a lesser form of sedation that would allow me to breathe without any assistance, and administered the epidural that would numb me from the waist down. I actually wanted the first option of being awake through the surgery, in talking with the nurse this was not an option since I was having both legs done. In the end I chose the third option.
The nurse continued to question me about my health history and etc. She asked if I had any other questions, which I really did not have since I had been talking to Dr. Bryne and my trainers all week. My nurse made the fatal error of thinking just because I.... did not have any questions that here job of answering was done! Poor Poor Nurse Do You NOT SEE MY SISTERS OVER IN THE CORNER JUST ITCHING TO ASK YOU EVERYTHING FROM HERE TO THERE!!! LOL I have to admit I was just waiting for my sisters to strike cause I knew they would! Now just for the record, NONE of my sister are soft by any means (One was in the Marines, One in the Army, One a school teacher you would not want to cross, and One who is currently a Chief in the Navy!) and they WISH....(They Have Dreams About People Getting Out Of Line Just To Give Them A Reason to Do Something) someone would try to get something over on their little brother! lol It was like watching a tag team wrestling match! My sister Ulanka (Navy) would ask a question and before the nurse could answer Tina (Army) would add a little bit and vice versa!!! It was brilliant, they even made the nurse go find a form that enabled family members to call in and ask intimate questions about my surgery and status. The nurse did not even know that such a form existed....How Great is That!!! I was Like What! Mmmmhhmmmm that's right I brought some SOLDIERS up in here with me today!! "SHOCK AND AWE BABE" "SHOCK AND AWE"!!! I guess God figured that I needed a little more humor in my life because after my sisters got done shinning the flash light in the nurses eyes, here comes the anesthesiologist! Yup Round 2 Babe! Actually, this guy was ready for the questions and was pretty happy to answer making it slightly less amusing but my sisters hit him up with questions anyway. The anesthesiologist repeated my different options about the surgery with a little more detail about the Anastasia I would be receiving. After he left Doctor Byrne came in marked on my legs information regarding the surgery answered a couple of questions, then reluctantly took my sister's camera so pictures could be taken of the procedure. These pictures can be viewed at www.jessebeckom3.com on my "Media" page. The Minster of the North Country Ministries Pastor Derek Spain was also at the hospital with me before the surgery to keep me company and to say a prayer for me before I went in to play with Edward Scissor Hands! LoL I also thought that was pretty cool!
Once Doc left the anesthesiologist came back administered the anesthesia, then wheeled me into the operating room. Once in the operating room he asked me to move over to the operating table, had me sit up so they can administer the epidural and that is all I remember until I woke up! The Kid was OUT COLD!
Being that I have a sets of three stitches in each of my legs now I can only assume that while I was sleeping Doc did what he needed to do! The funny thing about waking up after surgery is that your vision is not really as clear as it should be. Personally for me I felt like I was in a dream sequence of some sort, I mean things are happening around me that I have no control over. I hear nurses talking to me and can barely make them out. I asked for water and a nurse rubbed some weird water filled sponge across my lips....Yeah exactly! I thought I was going crazy so I asked for water again! Sure enough she hit me the sponge! lol My throat is dry as the Gobi Desert and this nurse keeps hitting me the sponge! What is this all about. All I am thinking is you are so lucky I can not move my arms right now cause I would throw that sponge across the room so fast....it would make her head spin, and she would break her neck trying to get me a glass of water! Now to add to my feeling of craziness, someone thought it was a good ideal to have two nurses named Patty helping me as I come back to consciousness. So me being the brilliant person I am I asked these two women their names about five different times a piece, wondering why is the name the same but I SWEAR THIS WOMAN FACE IS CHANGING EVERY TIME I ASK HER WHAT HER NAME IS. Keep in mind I half way awake and the other half of me is playing in the field of dreams with Papa Smurf and He-Man! I do not know whats going on except in that in this new land I am all the water has turned into sponges, every woman has the same name!! lol
The nurses rolled me back to my room where I slowly start to phase back into reality. By this time my sister Tina and her family are on there way back home and my sister Ulanka was on her way back to the hospital. Ulanka had already made plans to stay in town till Thursday just in-case I needed anything after surgery! Pretty cool once again! At 4:30pm my mind finally decides to fully come back to this plane of existence, with my appetite bringing up the rear! I see one of the nurses in my room and I ask her can I have some food? She says to me" you just got out of surgery you should get some rest!" EXCUSE ME!? Does She Not Know I Have Not Eaten Since Last Night! I inform her that I have had plenty of sleep and I need some food because I have not eating anything since 12am the previous night! She complies and ends up grabbing me a turkey club from the Hospital Cafeteria. About two hours later I get a text message from my friend Julie letting me know that her and some of the other girls on the team are coming to visit me. Being that Julie knows my strict diet she asks.............SO, what do you want from McDonald's? YES!!! THANK YOU JULZ!! I would like two cheeseburgers, fries and a drink please! They show up with my McDonald's a pound bag of M&M's, and a bag of Gummie Worms!!!!! I am GOOD real GOOD right now! It was sweet that they came to hospital and chilled with me for a bit.
After they left one of the nurses came by and asked me if I had gone to the bathroom yet (bathroom being that little portable plastic container that they give men)? I told he no I have not yet gone. She tells me "You have until 11:30pm to go" Say what? What do you mean I have until 11:30.....I am like what happens at 11:30? She tells me that if I have not gone by then they would have give me a decatheter! Decatahwho? You fixin Coffee or something!? Naw Miss Nurse The Kid is not playing that game!!!! I grabbed that little bottle so quick like I Neo in the Matrix, Said a couple of Prayers and Said SELF!!! Oh God SELF LETS GET IT DONE SO I DO NOT HAVE TO FIGHT ANYONE IN HERE!!! cause they trying to decaffeinate me! LOL Soon as the nurse came back in the room I pointed to the bottle and was like there you go...enjoy! Save you inquisition tactics for someone else lady!
Doctor Byrne came by the next day to check on my status. I have not had a chance to mention it but Dr.Byrne is a funny dude who loves surgery!!! He tells me the surgery went well and that I my recovery should go good. This is the same man that last week when I was in the training room with one of the trainers Josh told Josh that he should come watch the surgery its going to be bloody! I say its going to be what then he tells me oh I mean its going to be cool! "WHAT" hold Doc!..you can not go from bloody to cool in one breath and expect me to believe the latter! Then he says in 12wks you will be back lifting and running! WHAT Did You Just Say DOC, 12wks!? You Told Me 8wks before I had the surgery! Then he said 8wks before I am able to lift and run and about 12wks before I am back at full strength! Ok Doc that's a little bit better! I told him to stop playing with me! He just laughed then says that Mike said he did not feel really better for 6 months!! I did not pay him any attention this time! I was suppose to be in the hospital for one night but he decided to keep me in another night to make sure I stay off my feet completely a little longer.
On Wednesday morning Dr.Byrne came in changed my badinage's and released me from the hospital. My sister Ulanka and Pastor Derek were both there to help me back to the OTC (Olympic Training Center). Both of them had actually visited me ever-day I was in the hospital! The nurse actually asked me would I prefer to get wheeled out or walk out? I said walk out before she could even finish her question. Thank God I am able to use crutches instead of being restricted to a wheel chair!
This is the first time in my life I have ever had to use crutches. Needless to say learning how to walk on these things around the OTC is definitely interesting. Some of the athletes from other sports who did not know I was having surgery thought I was playing around and could not believe that I was actually on crutches! I have never really been hurt so it was something new for them as well as myself. It is a humbling experience but it is not permanent and I know that GOD has given me the mental capacity, determination, and support I need to come back soon and better than ever.
I will continue to update you all on my progress as I get back to form but until then have a great week and Thank You For Your Support This Season!!!!
God Bless,
Jesse B
www.jessebeckom3.com
www.jessebeckom.blogspot.com
Friday, March 6, 2009
End of the Season, Start of A New Season
March 06, 2009
What up Everyone!!?
Well, it has finally happened! As of Sunday March Second the 2008-2099 season is over and now its the 2009-2010 season of as we like to say....are you ready? cause here it comes ITS OLYMPIC YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
How did the year end you wonder well just sit right back and you will hear a tale, a tale of a faithful race, that started atop a mountain slope. The Pushers were there sledding Men the Driver brace and sure. For bobsledders set to race two days of four runs not more! Four Runs Not More! The track started getting rough, the bobsled hit the wall, and if not for the courage of the crew the bobsled would be lost. The Bobsled Would Be Lost!!! lol Ok enough of that I know.
Going in into four-man week unplanned events began to occur on our team. Since the start of the Second Half our crew has been John Napier, Jamie Moriarty, Corey Buckner and myself. Like any other team we had differences here and there but we worked past them, came together leading to some good results and great push times. As it is every year in our sport toward the end of a season, injuries pop up! During 4-man training week Corey pulled up two times in practice once we hit over-speed as we ran the bobsled over the crest. It turns out that his hamstring had been bothering him and he was not able to get up to full speed at the time. Once the problem was known our people in sports med went to work on Corey trying to get him back healthy to race Worlds, three days away. Unfortunately for Corey time and the importance of World Championships were not on his side. He was put through a series of test to see if he would be able to race. He performed well in the test but there was still to much doubt about whether he would be able to perform One Hundred Percent over two days of racing! The decision was made to replace Corey with Nick Cunningham the USA 1 alternate. In all honesty it broke the teams heart to have to replace Corey but it was a decision that unfortunately had to be made. We welcomed Nick to the team and started our race preparation. We made sure to let Nick know that he is one of us regardless of how he came to the team and that we had full confidence in his ability to perform.
We were able to squeeze in a full day of practice with nick the Thursday before the race. This was important in order for us to work on loading in the sled and getting settled as a team going into the first curve. If a team is not fully settled going in or the load is off it kills the sleds velocity going into the first curve, which in turn can multiply down the track whereby you may never actually reclaim that speed again.
After training we took the sled down to the Bodyne garage flipped her (Elanor our sled) upside down to allow her to dry for the night. In the breaking stretch Bobsleds pack in a lot of snow and ice into the sled once the breaks are pulled. We are able to get the majority of the snow out but flipping it upside down, placing a space heater underneath it helps with the drying out process further. On Friday the day before the start of racing we waxed the bottom of Elanor whiled she was still flipped, then flipped her down and waxed the top. We also added two more 10lb lead sheets to the sled in order to compensate for the weight difference between Nick and Corey which brought our sled up to a total of 50lb or more being added to it. We add weight to a sled to make sure the we're as close to the 630kilo(1,386lb) maximum that a 4-man team and sled combined is permitted to weigh. It is always better if the team members themselves are heavier that way they can race with a lighter sled, helping to make for faster push times while still keeping that maximum velocity down the hill. Being that Napier only about 187lb or so and Nick is 200lb we needed the weight to ensure the speed down the track unfortunately it does have a direct affect on the start times.
Also this marked a Gear occasion for me personally because it was the first time some of my family was able come see me race!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My sister Ulanka flew out from San Diego, and my Sister Tina drove down with her husband Mark and their children my niece and nephew. They were here for the whole weekend!!!! I got a chance to show them around the training center, introducing them to my teammates, coaches and other staff members. We went up to the Bodyne garage to see how we prepare our sleds for racing. During the race they were lined up at the start SCREAMING!!!!! J B 3! J B 3! J B 3! IT WAS PRETTY COOL TO HEAR AND SEE THAT! Everyone had a really good time. My sister Ulanka was even able to stay till this Thursday to help me with anything after I have my surgery....I will come back to that!
Going into the race the order was by Overall World Cup Ranking so we went of 16th. This was not the best time to be going on in Placid since it had been in the 40's and 50's earlier this week making for less than desirable ice conditions, added with 15 four-man sleds going down before us chewing up the ice. Napier's fastest start time in four-man here is 5.19 we pushed 5.18 and 5.19 on the first day, two descent pushes but not as fast as we would have liked. The first run down was not a good run for us especially since this is Napier's home track, so we ended up in tenth position after the first run and held the same position after the second run going into day two. On Day two of racing we dropped our start times down to 5.15 and 5.16 marking the Fastest Napier had ever been at the start!
This was good for us a pushers especially considering how heavy(weight in the sled) we were running comparatively USA 2 pushed 5.12 with an empty sled! However our runs down the track were not that good and we ended up in 11th place overall. It was the highest Napier and us had finished in World Championships but we still thought we should have gone faster, because earlier this year with a start of 5.37 in practice Napier drove better and we had a faster down time. But hey sometimes things changes on race day and we were still blessed to finish the way we did! Also our teammates on USA 1 WON WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS!!!!! THE FIRST TIME IN 5OYRS THAT AN AMERICAN CREW HAD WON A GOLD MEDAL IN WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS AND THE OLYMPICS COMBINED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Overall it was a great weekend for Men's and Women's Bobsled. We took Silver,6th, and 10th place in the women's race, we took Bronze in the men's two-man, Bronze and 6th in the Team Competition, Gold, 8th and 11th place in Four-Man!!!!!!
After the race was said and done we all sat down for a nice formal picnic. Lol Just playing!!!!!!!!!!!! we all went out for dinner, and dancing and all those great season ending festivities!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was a good night! I got my dance on BIG TIME because I knew the next morning I had to have surgery on both of my legs for the compartment syndrome that I have!
I will continue the surgery story in the next e-mail just to break it up and......................keep you wanting more!!! No it does not have anything to do with wanting you to visit my web-site http://www.jessebeckom3.com/ for pictures under my Media section or my blog page http://www.jessebeckom.blogspot.com/ more!!!!! That's just crazy talk! Straight Crazy Talk!
LOL
God Bless!
Jesse
What up Everyone!!?
Well, it has finally happened! As of Sunday March Second the 2008-2099 season is over and now its the 2009-2010 season of as we like to say....are you ready? cause here it comes ITS OLYMPIC YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
How did the year end you wonder well just sit right back and you will hear a tale, a tale of a faithful race, that started atop a mountain slope. The Pushers were there sledding Men the Driver brace and sure. For bobsledders set to race two days of four runs not more! Four Runs Not More! The track started getting rough, the bobsled hit the wall, and if not for the courage of the crew the bobsled would be lost. The Bobsled Would Be Lost!!! lol Ok enough of that I know.
Going in into four-man week unplanned events began to occur on our team. Since the start of the Second Half our crew has been John Napier, Jamie Moriarty, Corey Buckner and myself. Like any other team we had differences here and there but we worked past them, came together leading to some good results and great push times. As it is every year in our sport toward the end of a season, injuries pop up! During 4-man training week Corey pulled up two times in practice once we hit over-speed as we ran the bobsled over the crest. It turns out that his hamstring had been bothering him and he was not able to get up to full speed at the time. Once the problem was known our people in sports med went to work on Corey trying to get him back healthy to race Worlds, three days away. Unfortunately for Corey time and the importance of World Championships were not on his side. He was put through a series of test to see if he would be able to race. He performed well in the test but there was still to much doubt about whether he would be able to perform One Hundred Percent over two days of racing! The decision was made to replace Corey with Nick Cunningham the USA 1 alternate. In all honesty it broke the teams heart to have to replace Corey but it was a decision that unfortunately had to be made. We welcomed Nick to the team and started our race preparation. We made sure to let Nick know that he is one of us regardless of how he came to the team and that we had full confidence in his ability to perform.
We were able to squeeze in a full day of practice with nick the Thursday before the race. This was important in order for us to work on loading in the sled and getting settled as a team going into the first curve. If a team is not fully settled going in or the load is off it kills the sleds velocity going into the first curve, which in turn can multiply down the track whereby you may never actually reclaim that speed again.
After training we took the sled down to the Bodyne garage flipped her (Elanor our sled) upside down to allow her to dry for the night. In the breaking stretch Bobsleds pack in a lot of snow and ice into the sled once the breaks are pulled. We are able to get the majority of the snow out but flipping it upside down, placing a space heater underneath it helps with the drying out process further. On Friday the day before the start of racing we waxed the bottom of Elanor whiled she was still flipped, then flipped her down and waxed the top. We also added two more 10lb lead sheets to the sled in order to compensate for the weight difference between Nick and Corey which brought our sled up to a total of 50lb or more being added to it. We add weight to a sled to make sure the we're as close to the 630kilo(1,386lb) maximum that a 4-man team and sled combined is permitted to weigh. It is always better if the team members themselves are heavier that way they can race with a lighter sled, helping to make for faster push times while still keeping that maximum velocity down the hill. Being that Napier only about 187lb or so and Nick is 200lb we needed the weight to ensure the speed down the track unfortunately it does have a direct affect on the start times.
Also this marked a Gear occasion for me personally because it was the first time some of my family was able come see me race!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My sister Ulanka flew out from San Diego, and my Sister Tina drove down with her husband Mark and their children my niece and nephew. They were here for the whole weekend!!!! I got a chance to show them around the training center, introducing them to my teammates, coaches and other staff members. We went up to the Bodyne garage to see how we prepare our sleds for racing. During the race they were lined up at the start SCREAMING!!!!! J B 3! J B 3! J B 3! IT WAS PRETTY COOL TO HEAR AND SEE THAT! Everyone had a really good time. My sister Ulanka was even able to stay till this Thursday to help me with anything after I have my surgery....I will come back to that!
Going into the race the order was by Overall World Cup Ranking so we went of 16th. This was not the best time to be going on in Placid since it had been in the 40's and 50's earlier this week making for less than desirable ice conditions, added with 15 four-man sleds going down before us chewing up the ice. Napier's fastest start time in four-man here is 5.19 we pushed 5.18 and 5.19 on the first day, two descent pushes but not as fast as we would have liked. The first run down was not a good run for us especially since this is Napier's home track, so we ended up in tenth position after the first run and held the same position after the second run going into day two. On Day two of racing we dropped our start times down to 5.15 and 5.16 marking the Fastest Napier had ever been at the start!
This was good for us a pushers especially considering how heavy(weight in the sled) we were running comparatively USA 2 pushed 5.12 with an empty sled! However our runs down the track were not that good and we ended up in 11th place overall. It was the highest Napier and us had finished in World Championships but we still thought we should have gone faster, because earlier this year with a start of 5.37 in practice Napier drove better and we had a faster down time. But hey sometimes things changes on race day and we were still blessed to finish the way we did! Also our teammates on USA 1 WON WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS!!!!! THE FIRST TIME IN 5OYRS THAT AN AMERICAN CREW HAD WON A GOLD MEDAL IN WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS AND THE OLYMPICS COMBINED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Overall it was a great weekend for Men's and Women's Bobsled. We took Silver,6th, and 10th place in the women's race, we took Bronze in the men's two-man, Bronze and 6th in the Team Competition, Gold, 8th and 11th place in Four-Man!!!!!!
After the race was said and done we all sat down for a nice formal picnic. Lol Just playing!!!!!!!!!!!! we all went out for dinner, and dancing and all those great season ending festivities!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was a good night! I got my dance on BIG TIME because I knew the next morning I had to have surgery on both of my legs for the compartment syndrome that I have!
I will continue the surgery story in the next e-mail just to break it up and......................keep you wanting more!!! No it does not have anything to do with wanting you to visit my web-site http://www.jessebeckom3.com/ for pictures under my Media section or my blog page http://www.jessebeckom.blogspot.com/ more!!!!! That's just crazy talk! Straight Crazy Talk!
LOL
God Bless!
Jesse
Park City Race Update and More
February 26, 2009
What up Everyone!!!!!
Really quick all of our races can be viewed for FREE at www.universalsports.com under the bobsled and luge link!!!! Or if you get the Universal Sports Channel. As usual I have posted pictures on my web-site www.jessebeckom3.com
I appologize for being behind on my updates but it has been a little busy lately which is a very good thing! Well here is the recap of what has been going on....Come...Travel with me back in time to a long....long...time of three weeks and three WORLD CUPS ago in a Bobsled Far....Far....Far.......Far...............Far.............Far..............I can do this all day...........Far.............Away! lol
Still Further................Away!
The race in whistler got off to an ok start my teammates who race ended up taking 11th in the race. My driver drove really well but the start was next to the slowest start of the day, my driver was able to drive up but that is a long way to drive up from. The four man went a little bit better we finished 10th (which is always good especially when the USOC is seeing all there USA sleds finish in the top ten). It was a good runs and we were able to take a way some good things from the race, we had the fastest speed going into turn one which is a direct result of our start and well executed load, and we had the fifth fastest down time of the heat. This was good because it gave our driver John Napier a little more confidence going into Park City. The big thing was that the coaches were happy and so was our CEO, but in all honestly we just considered it to be a good start because we know we can be better!!!
After the race we do what we usually do and begin packing up the sleds to be shipped to Park City. Now packing the sleds is definitely not one of the more fun things we do in the sport of Bobsled but unfortunately its one of those things that has to be done. Why do you ask is this not fun? Well of course I will tell you don't be coy its ok. Directly after racing in about twenty degree weather and after the sun has fully gone making it around 5 degrees or colder we have brake down the sled in a snow covered parking lot. When we break down the sled we flip the sled upside down in order to take the runners off and put the transports on for shipping. Taking the runners off takes about five minutes or so but when you are tired from racing, your fingers are freezing because your adrenalin rush has run out, and you are starving it seems like it takes forever. Once we take the runners off we wipe of any remaining ice that may be left on the runners, then we place the runners in their perspective runner box.
We then flip the sled down pack it full of bags (we pack the majority of our bags in our crates to avoid overweight fees at the airport) or toolbox, stand, and runners. When the sled (2-man or 4-man) is about half way full (we only fill it half way to avoid making the sled to heavy to push into the crate) we push it half way into the crate then fill the sled up all the way and finishing pushing it fully into the crate. Next we pack up the scabboards, workmates, and any other equipment that we use. From there we usually head back to our hotel and prepare to leave in the morning for our next race.
Two ago weeks when we arrived in Park City the weather was really nice, the temperature was somewhere around twenty-five degrees or so. Yes I know to some that is cold but after you have been in twenty or thirty below like we were in Placid twenty-five degrees now feels like summer!!!! Now if you do not mind I will return back to telling my story....and please no more sighs and doubts about what I consider to be warm weather because if it continues this will be a really long e-mail! lol Oh and as it just popped in my mind on of my teammates Jamie Moriarty came up with a great ideal and way to name our sled!! We call her Elenaor! We took an ideal from the old World War II figher pilots who would place a picture of a model on the side of their Jets! So we did the same thing! IT LOOKS GREAT IF I DO SAY SO!!! I put pictures up on my web site.
In Park City, Utah one 2-man race and two 4-man races were scheduled. The extra 4-Man race was a make up race for the 4-man race that was canceled due to excessive amounts of snow in Cesana, Italy earlier this season. On Thursday February 12, my Teammate Corey raced the two-man race with John and and the start times were not where they wanted them to be and my team ended up in 20th place at the end of the race. But our spirits were still high because we know as a team we push better and have better results in 4-man. We were really geeked up (Extremely Exited and Pumped up) for the race and ready to got at the start! Our first push was a top 8 push which was ok but once again at the bottom we were not personally pleased and new that we have more speed in us. We talked about going faster and harder, quicker for the next heat. In hind sight it kind of reminds me of that saying "The best laid plans of mice and men" because our second push was respectively slower than our first push. This happened because at the start right as we were calling our cadence tons of people were still screaming and shouting for us, and we could not hear the final cadence that John was calling. This called the timing to be off between all of us when we went to hit (The initial movement when we all begin to run at the same time) the sled. Now don't get me wrong it is great when people cheer for us, but its kind of like 4th and 1 in a football game when the home team quarter back is trying to call the play. And the crowd is screaming really loud until the quarterback steps up behind center and then crowds knows to quiet down when the play calling starts. In bobsled its the same thing we love for everyone to be screaming at the top of their lungs while we are standing at the start but once we get set and begin our cadence we prefer if the crowd quiets down a little and then begin screaming again once we start running. Well needless to say we were not happy with our final result of 13th especially when we finished three spots higher the previous week.
That night we went over what had occurred and decided if a situation like that goes again that John would either scream louder or we would go off hand gestures to make sure we all hit the sled at the same time. It was not my best night sleep before a race but it did have me more motivated for the next day's race.
During the second 4-man race it was snowing pretty good during the race and before every competitive sled they were sweeping down the start. They do this because the snow accumulates in the start lines which causes for slower push times and could possibly cause the sled to pop out of the groves during the start. When our teammates from USA 1 were on the line the snow was beginning to slow a bit then it picked back up again after they went. Then in a act of Divine Intervention kind of like when God opened up the Red Sea for moses, God pushed away the snow clouds for us right as we got to the line!!! I am serious the snow had stopped and the sun began to shine!! All I was thinking was YES!!!! Thank you God this is what we needed especially all of the sled that usually finish in the top five or so had already gone down the hill, and we would know exactly where we stood when we got to the bottom of the hill! The start was good it was in the top 5 of all the pushes and John drove like a champ!!! and we got to the bottom we saw a 3 pop up on the down clock.....meaning that we were in Bronze Medal position after the first heat WE WENT CRAZY SCREAMING BECAUSE WE WERE IN THE MEDAL HUNT!! The video is pretty funny the Men's Head Coach Brian Shimer was going crazy at the top it was great! This is where we knew we could be at in every race and it was a great spot to be in. Once again at the bottom we all talked about pushing harder and faster just like we do after each first run, and this time we would not fall off like before...WE WERE DETERMINED TO GET THIS RIGHT! It had been too long since I had been in this position and for some of my team mates it was their first time in it. I WAS CHOMPIN AT THE BIT FOR THIS MEDAL!!!
Now, in World Cup Races their is about a thirty minute break between the last sled of the first heat and the first sled in the second heat. The second heat starts in reverse order so the the sled in last place goes first and so on. While we are waiting to take our second run we hurry and put our warm-up clothes on, flip the sled and grab equally distributed pieces of sandpaper from the FIBT (Federatin Internationale Bobsled and Tobogganing) Jury members for our runners. We do this because during the first heat the runners on our bobsled get scratches in them, sometimes they are worse than others but any scratch can cause the second run to be slower which is why we sand in between heats. After we are done sanding we wipe each runner down with acetone wipes to remove any residue that may be on the runner. Once that is complete we begin a second warm up in preparation for final run! This is a great feeling by the way because USA 1 is in 1st position and then, Latvia is in second and we are in third. So it is just our three sleds left alone the top of the hill, we are all sitting in medal position we just have to hold on to our spots. We get to the start and we are really geeked up....we all hit the sled at the same time and we are off!! Once again we have a good push and the ride is going pretty smooth. Then we hit the curve three and the sled just taps the wall! Not good! On this track an early bump will kill your speed at the bottom. So we get down to the bottom and as we are coming up the breaking stretch I am looking for that number 1 to pop up meaning that we are in 1st position until the next two sleds come down, it also means that we hold on to Bronze Medal position........And what do I see...I see the number 2! Yeah not what I wanted to see! We were now 7 hundredths of a second (.07) out of third place and sitting in fifth. It was one of those Bittersweet moments because we were so close to that Bronze but 5th was also the best result for my driver in his life!!! We were happy but still not completely satisfied...I know some of you all are probably thinking that we should be happy....But come on people this is SPORTS if you are not hungry for the number 1 Spot and every essence of your soul does not want it then this is not the place for you. I am greatly humbled for what the Lord allowed us to do in Park City, I also believe God has given us the ability to be number 1 and I personally want to see that come to fruition!
Needless to say we are excited to be going into 4-man at Lake Placid we are looking to put up some good times and we are looking to WIN!
On two other notes I was squatting the other day and it dawned on me that this would be my last back squat for a good 8wks because I will have my surgery on March 2nd so please say a prayer for me that it goes well and I recover quicker than expected. Also my father called me the other day and the police have caught the guy accused of murdering my cousin. Thank you all for your support in all that I have done even when it has not been anything sport related!
God Bless and Thank you all
.
Jesse Beckom III
www.jessebeckom3.com
What up Everyone!!!!!
Really quick all of our races can be viewed for FREE at www.universalsports.com under the bobsled and luge link!!!! Or if you get the Universal Sports Channel. As usual I have posted pictures on my web-site www.jessebeckom3.com
I appologize for being behind on my updates but it has been a little busy lately which is a very good thing! Well here is the recap of what has been going on....Come...Travel with me back in time to a long....long...time of three weeks and three WORLD CUPS ago in a Bobsled Far....Far....Far.......Far...............Far.............Far..............I can do this all day...........Far.............Away! lol
Still Further................Away!
The race in whistler got off to an ok start my teammates who race ended up taking 11th in the race. My driver drove really well but the start was next to the slowest start of the day, my driver was able to drive up but that is a long way to drive up from. The four man went a little bit better we finished 10th (which is always good especially when the USOC is seeing all there USA sleds finish in the top ten). It was a good runs and we were able to take a way some good things from the race, we had the fastest speed going into turn one which is a direct result of our start and well executed load, and we had the fifth fastest down time of the heat. This was good because it gave our driver John Napier a little more confidence going into Park City. The big thing was that the coaches were happy and so was our CEO, but in all honestly we just considered it to be a good start because we know we can be better!!!
After the race we do what we usually do and begin packing up the sleds to be shipped to Park City. Now packing the sleds is definitely not one of the more fun things we do in the sport of Bobsled but unfortunately its one of those things that has to be done. Why do you ask is this not fun? Well of course I will tell you don't be coy its ok. Directly after racing in about twenty degree weather and after the sun has fully gone making it around 5 degrees or colder we have brake down the sled in a snow covered parking lot. When we break down the sled we flip the sled upside down in order to take the runners off and put the transports on for shipping. Taking the runners off takes about five minutes or so but when you are tired from racing, your fingers are freezing because your adrenalin rush has run out, and you are starving it seems like it takes forever. Once we take the runners off we wipe of any remaining ice that may be left on the runners, then we place the runners in their perspective runner box.
We then flip the sled down pack it full of bags (we pack the majority of our bags in our crates to avoid overweight fees at the airport) or toolbox, stand, and runners. When the sled (2-man or 4-man) is about half way full (we only fill it half way to avoid making the sled to heavy to push into the crate) we push it half way into the crate then fill the sled up all the way and finishing pushing it fully into the crate. Next we pack up the scabboards, workmates, and any other equipment that we use. From there we usually head back to our hotel and prepare to leave in the morning for our next race.
Two ago weeks when we arrived in Park City the weather was really nice, the temperature was somewhere around twenty-five degrees or so. Yes I know to some that is cold but after you have been in twenty or thirty below like we were in Placid twenty-five degrees now feels like summer!!!! Now if you do not mind I will return back to telling my story....and please no more sighs and doubts about what I consider to be warm weather because if it continues this will be a really long e-mail! lol Oh and as it just popped in my mind on of my teammates Jamie Moriarty came up with a great ideal and way to name our sled!! We call her Elenaor! We took an ideal from the old World War II figher pilots who would place a picture of a model on the side of their Jets! So we did the same thing! IT LOOKS GREAT IF I DO SAY SO!!! I put pictures up on my web site.
In Park City, Utah one 2-man race and two 4-man races were scheduled. The extra 4-Man race was a make up race for the 4-man race that was canceled due to excessive amounts of snow in Cesana, Italy earlier this season. On Thursday February 12, my Teammate Corey raced the two-man race with John and and the start times were not where they wanted them to be and my team ended up in 20th place at the end of the race. But our spirits were still high because we know as a team we push better and have better results in 4-man. We were really geeked up (Extremely Exited and Pumped up) for the race and ready to got at the start! Our first push was a top 8 push which was ok but once again at the bottom we were not personally pleased and new that we have more speed in us. We talked about going faster and harder, quicker for the next heat. In hind sight it kind of reminds me of that saying "The best laid plans of mice and men" because our second push was respectively slower than our first push. This happened because at the start right as we were calling our cadence tons of people were still screaming and shouting for us, and we could not hear the final cadence that John was calling. This called the timing to be off between all of us when we went to hit (The initial movement when we all begin to run at the same time) the sled. Now don't get me wrong it is great when people cheer for us, but its kind of like 4th and 1 in a football game when the home team quarter back is trying to call the play. And the crowd is screaming really loud until the quarterback steps up behind center and then crowds knows to quiet down when the play calling starts. In bobsled its the same thing we love for everyone to be screaming at the top of their lungs while we are standing at the start but once we get set and begin our cadence we prefer if the crowd quiets down a little and then begin screaming again once we start running. Well needless to say we were not happy with our final result of 13th especially when we finished three spots higher the previous week.
That night we went over what had occurred and decided if a situation like that goes again that John would either scream louder or we would go off hand gestures to make sure we all hit the sled at the same time. It was not my best night sleep before a race but it did have me more motivated for the next day's race.
During the second 4-man race it was snowing pretty good during the race and before every competitive sled they were sweeping down the start. They do this because the snow accumulates in the start lines which causes for slower push times and could possibly cause the sled to pop out of the groves during the start. When our teammates from USA 1 were on the line the snow was beginning to slow a bit then it picked back up again after they went. Then in a act of Divine Intervention kind of like when God opened up the Red Sea for moses, God pushed away the snow clouds for us right as we got to the line!!! I am serious the snow had stopped and the sun began to shine!! All I was thinking was YES!!!! Thank you God this is what we needed especially all of the sled that usually finish in the top five or so had already gone down the hill, and we would know exactly where we stood when we got to the bottom of the hill! The start was good it was in the top 5 of all the pushes and John drove like a champ!!! and we got to the bottom we saw a 3 pop up on the down clock.....meaning that we were in Bronze Medal position after the first heat WE WENT CRAZY SCREAMING BECAUSE WE WERE IN THE MEDAL HUNT!! The video is pretty funny the Men's Head Coach Brian Shimer was going crazy at the top it was great! This is where we knew we could be at in every race and it was a great spot to be in. Once again at the bottom we all talked about pushing harder and faster just like we do after each first run, and this time we would not fall off like before...WE WERE DETERMINED TO GET THIS RIGHT! It had been too long since I had been in this position and for some of my team mates it was their first time in it. I WAS CHOMPIN AT THE BIT FOR THIS MEDAL!!!
Now, in World Cup Races their is about a thirty minute break between the last sled of the first heat and the first sled in the second heat. The second heat starts in reverse order so the the sled in last place goes first and so on. While we are waiting to take our second run we hurry and put our warm-up clothes on, flip the sled and grab equally distributed pieces of sandpaper from the FIBT (Federatin Internationale Bobsled and Tobogganing) Jury members for our runners. We do this because during the first heat the runners on our bobsled get scratches in them, sometimes they are worse than others but any scratch can cause the second run to be slower which is why we sand in between heats. After we are done sanding we wipe each runner down with acetone wipes to remove any residue that may be on the runner. Once that is complete we begin a second warm up in preparation for final run! This is a great feeling by the way because USA 1 is in 1st position and then, Latvia is in second and we are in third. So it is just our three sleds left alone the top of the hill, we are all sitting in medal position we just have to hold on to our spots. We get to the start and we are really geeked up....we all hit the sled at the same time and we are off!! Once again we have a good push and the ride is going pretty smooth. Then we hit the curve three and the sled just taps the wall! Not good! On this track an early bump will kill your speed at the bottom. So we get down to the bottom and as we are coming up the breaking stretch I am looking for that number 1 to pop up meaning that we are in 1st position until the next two sleds come down, it also means that we hold on to Bronze Medal position........And what do I see...I see the number 2! Yeah not what I wanted to see! We were now 7 hundredths of a second (.07) out of third place and sitting in fifth. It was one of those Bittersweet moments because we were so close to that Bronze but 5th was also the best result for my driver in his life!!! We were happy but still not completely satisfied...I know some of you all are probably thinking that we should be happy....But come on people this is SPORTS if you are not hungry for the number 1 Spot and every essence of your soul does not want it then this is not the place for you. I am greatly humbled for what the Lord allowed us to do in Park City, I also believe God has given us the ability to be number 1 and I personally want to see that come to fruition!
Needless to say we are excited to be going into 4-man at Lake Placid we are looking to put up some good times and we are looking to WIN!
On two other notes I was squatting the other day and it dawned on me that this would be my last back squat for a good 8wks because I will have my surgery on March 2nd so please say a prayer for me that it goes well and I recover quicker than expected. Also my father called me the other day and the police have caught the guy accused of murdering my cousin. Thank you all for your support in all that I have done even when it has not been anything sport related!
God Bless and Thank you all
.
Jesse Beckom III
www.jessebeckom3.com
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Whistler Update
Helloooooooooooooo Eh! That's Canadian for Hello! LoL.........Come on that's funny!
It is only by the Grace of God that I am privileged to represent my country, family, and friends around the world, and for that Father I am thankful.
We are currently up in Whistler, Canada, last week was strictly dedicated for training and this week is World Cup race week. Being that this is a new track as a safety precaution the FIBT rules require that a week of Training is provided to all competing nations prior to the race week. This gives all the drivers a chance to get acclimated to the track as much as possible before the actual race. During the training week the Ice is not what we refer to as race ready. When the ice is race ready the track crew will spritz down the entire track with warm water which causes the ice to glaze over even more making it faster. Oh, and by the way this track is FAST I mean VERY VERY FAST even-though the ice is not ready we are already going 89.5 mph in a 2-man sled! Now as a point of reference on most tracks 4-man sleds do not hit this speed, so the 4-man sleds here are going to easily break 100mph!!! ALL ENGINES PREPARE FOR LUDACRIS SPEED!!
The scenery out here is beautiful, it is a great ski resort type of town. The mountains are covered with snow and from the top of the Bob run you get a gorgeous view of the mountains piercing through the clouds, and the town below. The village area where we are staying is completely walkable. Within in a mile radius their are numerous clothing stores, jewelery stores, grocery stores, movie, pub, night-clubs, hotels and condos on every corner and etc it has everything. Also if you happen to be in Whistler and you have a craving for some good Mexican food you should stop by Dups Burrito on Main Street www.dupsburritos.com we got a chance to meet the owners and some of the employees, they are a great group of people and the food is excellent!!!! And for my City Planners out there, there is not a Wal-Mart, Target or any other big box store in sight! As you make your way through town it seems like everyone is walking around in ski shoes and either have a snowboard or some form of ski in their hands.
The hotel we are staying at is called the Tantalus. The rooms are set up like suites, having their own kitchen area, living room equipped with pull out bed,one room with two twin beds, and one room with a queen size bed, and 2 bathrooms. I love it when the hotels that we stay at have their own cooking area, because I enjoy cooking for myself instead of having to eat out at restaurants for a week or more. Outside the hotel there is a three lane wide swimming pool, two hot tubs and a sauna. The hot tubs are a great way to loosen up my legs after a day of sliding!!!!! I could probably live in those things and be fine with it....well I mean if I did not prune up and things! lol If not for that you would walk down the street and be like hey why does this lot have just a gate and a hot tub surrounded by TV's, appliances, and a mail box? Then someone would turn to you and say of that's Jesse's house! Then you would say Oh! and keep on walking. HA!HA! And......I digress!
Like the other hotels we stay at when we are not in the USA this one has a separate garage from its main garage where we store our bobsleds at. And like most of these garages this one is not heated either, so you can imagine it gets a little chilly at times when we are down there doing sled work. Due to the fact that the other countries do not always have training centers or training centers they let other countries use we bring weights with us and these garages double as our weight room and track for doing sprints. It is definitely not ideal but hey we make the best out of what we have to work with. It can also get a little hairy at times trying to sprint in a cold garage that has ice spots on the ground, I know this because I took a nice little fall the other day on a patch of ice as I was trying to slow down. Not Fun!
The bobsled track is five minutes away from the the Hotel we are staying at, which works out pretty nice. When we head to practice each USA team loads up the sled they will be training with on that day (Men have a choice between using the 2-Man or 4-Man sled, women only have 2-Man sled) into the back of their pick-up truck, then head over to the Bobsled Track parking lot. Once at the parking lot every team unloads their sleds onto a flat bed trailer, where we wait for the sled trucks to come down and take our sleds to the top of the hill for training. The sled trucks are just your basic enclosed U-Haul type of truck that have some form of chain, hook tie-down that we secure to our sled so they do not fall out the back on the way up the hill. I have posted some pictures of the sled truck on my web site. It is not always the smoothest ride up the hill but it gets us there.
At the top of the hill it is organized confusion! The start area at the top is sectioned off by movable gates. Each gate has reserved sled spots for each country depending on the sliding order that day. The sliding order is determined at the beginning of the week through a random draw. Last week of training had both the men and the women sliding together, but this week gender will have their own sliding session. The separate sliding session splits up the 50 sleds and 130 or more people being on the top of the hill at one time, thus making each session smaller and more manageable.
I have posted a TON of pictures of Whistler and the Bobsled Track here on my web-site www.jessebeckom3.com on the Media Page so have a look see! At you can watch our races online if you follow this link http://www.universalsports.com/SportSelect.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=23000&KEY=&SPID=11674&SPSID=95677
Well that is all I have for now everyone, I wish you all the best and please say prayer for me and my team that we do our best and kick som butt up here!
God Bless
Jesse Beckom III
www.jessebeckom3.com
www.jessebeckom.blogspot.com
It is only by the Grace of God that I am privileged to represent my country, family, and friends around the world, and for that Father I am thankful.
We are currently up in Whistler, Canada, last week was strictly dedicated for training and this week is World Cup race week. Being that this is a new track as a safety precaution the FIBT rules require that a week of Training is provided to all competing nations prior to the race week. This gives all the drivers a chance to get acclimated to the track as much as possible before the actual race. During the training week the Ice is not what we refer to as race ready. When the ice is race ready the track crew will spritz down the entire track with warm water which causes the ice to glaze over even more making it faster. Oh, and by the way this track is FAST I mean VERY VERY FAST even-though the ice is not ready we are already going 89.5 mph in a 2-man sled! Now as a point of reference on most tracks 4-man sleds do not hit this speed, so the 4-man sleds here are going to easily break 100mph!!! ALL ENGINES PREPARE FOR LUDACRIS SPEED!!
The scenery out here is beautiful, it is a great ski resort type of town. The mountains are covered with snow and from the top of the Bob run you get a gorgeous view of the mountains piercing through the clouds, and the town below. The village area where we are staying is completely walkable. Within in a mile radius their are numerous clothing stores, jewelery stores, grocery stores, movie, pub, night-clubs, hotels and condos on every corner and etc it has everything. Also if you happen to be in Whistler and you have a craving for some good Mexican food you should stop by Dups Burrito on Main Street www.dupsburritos.com we got a chance to meet the owners and some of the employees, they are a great group of people and the food is excellent!!!! And for my City Planners out there, there is not a Wal-Mart, Target or any other big box store in sight! As you make your way through town it seems like everyone is walking around in ski shoes and either have a snowboard or some form of ski in their hands.
The hotel we are staying at is called the Tantalus. The rooms are set up like suites, having their own kitchen area, living room equipped with pull out bed,one room with two twin beds, and one room with a queen size bed, and 2 bathrooms. I love it when the hotels that we stay at have their own cooking area, because I enjoy cooking for myself instead of having to eat out at restaurants for a week or more. Outside the hotel there is a three lane wide swimming pool, two hot tubs and a sauna. The hot tubs are a great way to loosen up my legs after a day of sliding!!!!! I could probably live in those things and be fine with it....well I mean if I did not prune up and things! lol If not for that you would walk down the street and be like hey why does this lot have just a gate and a hot tub surrounded by TV's, appliances, and a mail box? Then someone would turn to you and say of that's Jesse's house! Then you would say Oh! and keep on walking. HA!HA! And......I digress!
Like the other hotels we stay at when we are not in the USA this one has a separate garage from its main garage where we store our bobsleds at. And like most of these garages this one is not heated either, so you can imagine it gets a little chilly at times when we are down there doing sled work. Due to the fact that the other countries do not always have training centers or training centers they let other countries use we bring weights with us and these garages double as our weight room and track for doing sprints. It is definitely not ideal but hey we make the best out of what we have to work with. It can also get a little hairy at times trying to sprint in a cold garage that has ice spots on the ground, I know this because I took a nice little fall the other day on a patch of ice as I was trying to slow down. Not Fun!
The bobsled track is five minutes away from the the Hotel we are staying at, which works out pretty nice. When we head to practice each USA team loads up the sled they will be training with on that day (Men have a choice between using the 2-Man or 4-Man sled, women only have 2-Man sled) into the back of their pick-up truck, then head over to the Bobsled Track parking lot. Once at the parking lot every team unloads their sleds onto a flat bed trailer, where we wait for the sled trucks to come down and take our sleds to the top of the hill for training. The sled trucks are just your basic enclosed U-Haul type of truck that have some form of chain, hook tie-down that we secure to our sled so they do not fall out the back on the way up the hill. I have posted some pictures of the sled truck on my web site. It is not always the smoothest ride up the hill but it gets us there.
At the top of the hill it is organized confusion! The start area at the top is sectioned off by movable gates. Each gate has reserved sled spots for each country depending on the sliding order that day. The sliding order is determined at the beginning of the week through a random draw. Last week of training had both the men and the women sliding together, but this week gender will have their own sliding session. The separate sliding session splits up the 50 sleds and 130 or more people being on the top of the hill at one time, thus making each session smaller and more manageable.
I have posted a TON of pictures of Whistler and the Bobsled Track here on my web-site www.jessebeckom3.com on the Media Page so have a look see! At you can watch our races online if you follow this link http://www.universalsports.com/SportSelect.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=23000&KEY=&SPID=11674&SPSID=95677
Well that is all I have for now everyone, I wish you all the best and please say prayer for me and my team that we do our best and kick som butt up here!
God Bless
Jesse Beckom III
www.jessebeckom3.com
www.jessebeckom.blogspot.com
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