Perdita Felicien just got word that she'll be making her hurdles season debut at the elite Diamond League meet in Rome next week. (Stu Forster/Getty Images)

I'm pretty good at nagging (yes, I grew up in a house full of women). So when it comes to pestering my agent, Renaldo Nehemiah, about getting me races, I'm a world champion at that too.

After four weeks of texting, emailing, telepathy and Blackberry messaging him at 3 a.m. (the best way to ensure you get someone's attention, by the way) I finally got the good news: I am now confirmed for the Rome Diamond League meet on May 26.

Hooray for me! R.E.M for Renaldo.

This is a big race, and it will be my first for the 2011 season, a month later than I have opened up in seasons past. The reason is this spring I missed two weeks of training for a heel bruise. I was able to get back on track quickly. However, 10 days later I was sidelined with tendinitis. Rather than let it get worse, I took more than three weeks off to allow it to calm down.

I'm happy to say it's all resolved, though it took most of April. Since I wasn't able to run or hurdle, I spent a lot of time aqua-jogging at the community pool, which is a very strange place for a trackster.

Ab tips in the shower: Awkward!

One time I read the swim schedule wrong and accidentally attended an aquafit class for senior citizens. How cute. Bet you didn't know they love to bob up and down to Sexy Back by Justin Timberlake and will veer into your invisible lane and inadvertently swat you with their aqua noodle upside the head. Ow!

A couple of them had no concept of the "Lather and Leave" policy every jock adheres to, making blatant eye contact and hitting me up for ab tips in the communal shower ("Really, Betsy and Martha? Right now?"). Awkward!

I was so happy to leave the water world behind and be back at the track, though I knew I wouldn't be ready to race competitively until late May, thus targeting Rome. However, no matter how highly ranked you are in this sport, or how good you think you are, a lane confirmation is never a guarantee. Especially when it comes to the Diamond League, the highest level of meet and the most competitive in track and field.

If you haven't posted a time yet, meet directors are sometimes cautious of handing you a lane at an elite meet all willy-nilly. Hence my putting pressure on my agent ("If I don't race, we don't eat, and you don't sleep. So fix it. Tee hee.")

So when Renaldo texted me saying I had a lane, I was super geeked! I wondered what he might have used to bribe them this year, and I also felt bad for interrupting his sleeping pattern for 28 straight nights. Sorry, Renaldo.

It's going to be a tough race. The ladies will have a few more races under their belt, and I'll have no low-key meets to get my feet wet or even know where I am. Hurdlers thrive on rhythm and we like to establish it early. Preferably when no one is really looking and when $10,000 and ranking points aren't on the line.

But not this year. So bring on Rome!