From the Family Site (Jean) Paul's Mom
Topic: Minnesota update
Tonight's finals were pretty tame.   The opening ceremony's star spangled banner was done by a male chorus..very cool.   Paul was in the 1st heat of the second to last event, so after warm-ups, we all spent some time watching the other swimmers compete.   There is so much awesome competition in the S-6 levels on up.   The S-7 has tons of swimmers, so several heats and very close races.   It was much like a high school swim meet.   The crowd was screaming and cheering (so were we!).   In the lower levels, there are far fewer competitors.   They show this video called "amazing awaits" and it's all about the para games.   It says in their statistics that LESS than 10% of handicapped people are involved in any kind of sport!   If more of them would do this, Paul could have some competition.

He swam his 100 free (all suited up!) and even though he got "stuck" on the wall during his turn (he spasmed and had a hard time doing his turn), he still dropped 2 seconds off his time and ended up in 3rd place.   Overall, he got 2 second placements and 2 third placements.   He (of course) was disappointed.   I tried to focus on the positive aspects of all of this, but he did explain to me that he has a competitive nature.   He said, "I don't mind being middle of the pack, but to be in a group that I don't belong in, or that I have no chance of EVER getting in the top 3 placements is very disappointing."   I can understand that and I do have to respect it (as hard as it is for me to hear).   I know this is not about me (or what I might want).   He was most pleased with the fact that all of his times were his personal bests since he's been swimming (as a paralyzed person).

So overall..a positive experience (okay..maybe a little bittersweet).   None of us have any regrets about coming.   I think we need to go home and regroup.  

There is a group of event riders (lots that I ride with) that are having a fundraiser for Paul tomorrow.   It's a 2 phase event and the entries will pay for this trip to MN.   Karin (my trainer) got this whole thing going.   Jackie was my contact person while Karin was in FL.   Gail Lehman (who I don't even personally know) was kind enough to donate her farm for this event.   I am proud to know such a wonderful and supportive group of people, and I am very grateful for all of the hard work that's being done to make this happen.   I also want to say a special thanks to Mom and A Anne for doing the concessions at the event (and to Mom for helping with the little boys ~once again~ while I was away).   I wish very much that I could be there to thank everyone personally!   My thoughts will be there (as we are traveling back to NY).

Love to all,

Jean

From the family site (Jean) Paul's Mom
Topic: Minnesota update
Well, this morning was an interesting experiment.   Paul decided to try swimming without his full body suit on, and just his speedo.   He wondered if he might be faster without the suit...not!   It's okay because it was only prelims..he'll definitely wear it for finals.   We are back at the room for the daily lunch and nap..then off to finals tonight for the last event..the 100m freestyle.   I know at some point we will find out the final word on Paul's classification...wonder when that will happen...

I just have to say again, how amazing it is to watch all of these disabled people making the most of their situations.   You see SOO many different kinds of handicaps, but I would say the main one is some kind of amputee or birth defect involving missing or deformed limbs.   There are several people with partial arms and legs (a few have that in all 4 extremities!).   There is this one little girl (maybe about 12 yrs old) and she is missing both arms.   She has just the tops (about the length of what a t-shirt would cover).   She has a playful spirit.   You can see this in the way she interacts with other girls.   When she puts her goggles on, she sits down and puts them on and adjusts them with her feet/toes.   When she is on the start block, she takes her stance and balances on her legs, then dives off and swims great with what she has.   There is a man there that has no arms (not even shoulders).   At one of his groins there is a tiny foot (with no leg) and the other side has a short leg with little toes.   He is picked up and put on the start block.   When the horn goes off, he pushes with his one leg (to get into the water) and then he just goes like crazy down his lane (just like a fish!!) and he can smoke the pants off Paul.

When Blake and I get Paul out of the water, he comes to the side of the pool, puts his back to the edge and we hook our arms under his armpits and hoist.   We can get him pulled up to about his lower back, then Blake quick puts on of his feet under him for more leverage and it's just enough to get his butt over the side of the pool (it's a pretty good gap from the edge to the water).   Once he's sitting on the edge, he puts his arm around each of our shoulders (we're on either side of him), then we each pick up a leg, count to 3 and we stand up, lifting Paul and put him in his chair (which is behind us)...whew!..good thing we're in relatively good shape, but I'm definitely going to need to go to the chiropractor when I get home!!

Okay, well wish Paul speed tonight in his last event.   We'll be glad to get home tomorrow.

Love to all,

Jean

From the Family Site (Jean) Paul's Mom
Topic: Minnesota update
Today was 80's day for motivational music...some Styx (come sail away), Survivor (Eye of the Tiger) among many more.   They play this music over the sound system while swimmers are warming up and in between heats.   Paul listened to his own song (Believe by Yellowcard) on his ipod to get motivated, then went in for his practice swim.

4:45pm..the pool is cleared for the opening ceremony...which was SPECTACULAR!!   It was put on by the Twin City Divers over the diving well end of this pool room.   They have several diving boards along the side of this pool and in the middle there are   tall, taller and REALLY tall diving boards, all aligned with eachother.   There was music playing (motivational enough for a cardio workout!) and these divers just kept coming out, doing different dives, diving in tandem and really putting on a show.   It was absolutely awesome and very action packed.   After that show, a talented musician played the star spangled banner.   Throughout the bugle, there were (what sounded like) gunshots   from these "mini cannons" that shot out red white and blue streamers all over the crowd.   There were mini fireworks and then finally what looked like torches (shooting out fire) over the banner that read "2008 U S Paralympics Swimming Trials"   It was very moving.   I SOO wished I could've videotaped that!

Blake and I were trying to pump Paul up telling him, "you got this!".."you can do it"..."gotta beat 1min 12.5 seconds" (just incase he does get moved to S-3..it is a qualifying time for Beijing).   He finally told us to stop talking..and we obliged :o).   The horn went off and he pushed off that wall with a fury in his expression.   He delivered!..he finished in 1min10.43seconds.   I was THRILLED no matter what class he ends up in!!   That was a 3 1/2 second drop from his prelim time earlier today!

We hung out between Paul's events and before long, he was up again for his 50 free.   I thought he looked a bit slower in his time, but he finished this event with a 1min 10.99 second time...very consistent!

Overall, he's finished:

200 Men's freestyle (S-4 class)   2nd place
50   Men's backstroke (S-4 class) 2nd place
50   Men's freestyle (S-4 class) 3rd place

I look at these placements, his times and this overall experience and I couldn't be PROUDER!!   Paul is torturing himself a bit because he #1 isn't happy with the classification and #2 it's still "last place" to him no matter what the placement is.   I wish he could see what an accomplishment this is!   These swimmers are the best in our country and they are trying out for the best team in the US.   I said, "maybe if we started off with a smaller meet you would be happier with the results?!"   The other aspect of this is the fact that there are many other people in Paul's shoes that would never even TRY for something like this...they would never get here.   Paul has maintained a positive direction throughout this whole situation and I give him the MOST credit for that alone.   All the rest of this is a huge bonus.  

Tomorrow is the last day of competition.   Paul will swim the 100 freestyle event.   He's in the 2nd to last event, so it will be an early morning, but not quite as early as usual.   Going to bed now...

Love to all,

Jean

It was another early morning.   By the time we leave here, I'll have this driving pattern down :o).   As we entered the aquatic center, I stopped on the upper level to take a pic of the overall pool from outside the window of this enormous pool room...only I actually walked in without my camera!..so I couldn't take the pic.   This Mom (that I had asked if I could take the pic) was so sweet and started asking me how things were going and who I was here with, etc.   She was SOOO nice!   She talked about how she got her daughter into this when she was just 12yrs old (now 22).   Erin (daughter) is a dwarf.   Her Mom talked about how she had to be re-classified   as she grew and how hard that whole process is.   She also said that when they started, they did it just like we did...one qualifying meet..then right to the paralympic trials.   She said how great the team is and how close the swimmers are.   I said, for sure, we could see the comrodary among them and hoped to be part of it one day.   She gave me a hug and I was on my way down to the pool deck to help Paul in the water for his warm up.   I thanked her for being the second person that was nice to us! Paul warmed up and said he felt good in the water.   Today is all sprinting..the horn goes off and it's sprint as fast as you can from your start wall to the other end of the pool.   Since it's a 50m pool, he only goes one end to the other. First was the 50 backstroke.   There were 2 other swimmers in his heat and he SMOKED them.   Curtis was in the second heat and he beat him by 5 seconds.   These swimmers range from S-1s to S-5s.   Paul finished with a 1min 13.9 seconds.   The qualifiying time for S-4 is 56.5 seconds...so still quite a gap there (S-3 class is 1min 12.5 sec..so very close in that class!).   Paul was quite pleased to have beat Curtis..have to say :o)..he hasn't had any competition in quite some time, so that was fun for him! After backstroke, we had a bit of time to wait for the freestyle event.   We watched Erin swim in her heat.   That was kindof fun after meeting her Mom.   I could just imagine how it would be if Paul were a member of the US Team.   Paul swam his heat in freestyle (doing backstroke) and finished at 1min 13.4 sec..talk about consistency!..and he beat Curtis again (was swimming in his heat).   Qualifying time for S-4 is 49sec (pretty big gap!!) and for S-3 it's 1min 05sec..that's doable.   We are still SOO hoping and praying that he gets moved to the S-3 class (though I'm honestly not holding out a lot of hope for that!). After practice and these two swims, we headed back to the hotel for lunch (and naps..they're both napping now ;o).   Finals are tonight (practice starts at 4pm).   We're really hoping Paul can take another second and a half off of his time for the backstroke to at least make the qualifying time for S-3 class (should he get moved to that class)...think speed again tonight!! Thanks for your support!   It means a lot to us!! Love to all,   Jean

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From the Family Site (Jean) Paul's Mom
Topic: Minnesota update

Well, this afternoon was a much better experience.   We arrived at the pool room..feeling better than any other time we had gone in there.   It is such an "official" atmosphere there.   They play very inspiring music (one song was "Kryptonite" ~by 3 Doors Down) while people swim in their warm ups.   Of course the sound echos throughout the pool room and gets you pumped up. While Paul was catheterizing before swimming, I was talking to Curtis.   He was very nice.   when I mentioned how the classification went (of course I was mocking it a bit and giving him this visual of us being patted down and interrogated) he kindof raised his eyebrows and snickered a little, then mentioned that things have changed now due to some new/strict ICP rules.   He said that the officials (that walk all around the pool deck) are not even allowed to come into contact with any of the athletes.   He said that ones that he knows personally just walk by him.   He said they may give him a wink, but that they can't talk to him.   That may explain some of the coldness we've been feeling. On another note, one of the people that I talked to earlier in the day (to make sure it was okay for Paul to swim backstroke) was Jimi Flowers.   He is the US coach for the paralympic swim team.   Even though he was busy earlier with his swimmers, he was nice enough to talk to me and encourage us (and tell me to wish Paul good luck).   When we came back for finals, he came right up and said, "you must be Paul."   and was very friendly and helpful and encouraging...finally!...someone was nice to us!!!! Before the meet started, the MN swim club did this really neat presentation.   A (whole bunch of them) got into the water while a long line of people at one end of the pool held this ENORMOUS american flag.   They slowly unrolled it over the people in the water (while people on the edges "walked it along the sides) until it was fully opened.   This was done to some powerful music from "Pirates of the Carribean".   The flag seemed to be "waving in the wind" as all of the people moved slightly underneath it while this student with an awesome voice sang the star spangled banner...very cool! The first heat was the women's 200 freestyle.   As they were getting in the pool, one of the Mexican swimmers was being helped into the pool by her support person and something happended to make the support person lose her balance and they both fell into the water.   They were both assisted out of the water, but the swimmer was hurt and ended up leaving via stretcher on a backboard by ambulance.   We hope she is okay! When all of the commotion cleared up, the women went and then it was time for the men's 200 freestyle.   The finals were much more "official" than the prelims.   As the guys wheeled out (or hopped depending on their disability) they were announced..."and representing the United States in the S-4 class is Paul Rudat."...now I know everyone from home was cheering him on!   He moved along in his backstroke and in the end, took 42 seconds off his time!   This was awesome and as soon as he got out of the pool, coach Flowers came right over and told him what a great job he did!   then said, "you took like 40 seconds off your time!"   He finished a 5min56sec (and it's a 50meter ~long course pool).   The qualifying time in the S-4 class is 4min 11 sec...quite a gap.   Still an awesome job!   He finished 2nd in the S-2 class for these trials..pretty great! After Coach Flowers offered his compliments, another official person came up to Paul, "are you Paul Rudat?"   I was thinking, wow..someone else is impressed by him too!...   "you've been selected for a random drug test."   Coach Flowers said, "wow, nothing like experiencing it all on your first visit!" An hour later....we finally left there and headed back to the hotel.   It's a quiet night that we are enjoying..watching Funniest Home Videos and laughing.   We're going to bed in a few...it's up early in the AM.   Paul swims 2 sprints tomorrow...his 50 free and his 50 back..which will both be backs..wish him speed! Love to all, Jean

From the family site (Jean) Paul's Mom
Topic: Minnesota update

So...yesterday, I did try talking to someone about this whole classification thing.   Her name is Julie and she is the "contact" person that I have corresponded with from the beginning with any questions I had in regards to the event and the registration for classification and such.   I have been so bothered by this situation that I felt I needed to connect with her at some point to see if she had anything else to offer.   She was good enough to spend some time with me on the phone yesterday and did shed some light on some of this situation..and really kindof put me in my place as far as this event goes.   She pretty much told me she was there to watch him in the water..she read the forms (with the classifier's assessments) and she agreed with them that she felt that was where he belonged.   She also reminded me that it was not 100% decided just yet..that there would be people watching him swim over the next few days.   She made sure that I knew that all of the assessment sheets were available online, that this is a standard muscle/function test, that the classifiers are all either PTs or MDs and that they do this type of testing on people on a regular basis, and that "at this level of competition" the swimmer and the coach should be quite familiar with the process and the forms....etc.   It was quite clear to me that she stood behind the group of classifiers and the S-4 decision.   She is also a classifier, so she understands the process and said it's really not a pleasant thing (for anyone).   As far as the "estimated potential" portion, she said it wasn't quite like the other lady explained it.   She said they test for ability, level of function, not fitness or speed, or proficiency in the stroke...so basically they feel he should be able to perform at the S-4 level.   I was grateful for the time she gave me (even though it didn't change anything).   I think she wanted us to know that this was a really big meet and that you don't just come in here thinking , "hey, I think I'll try out for the team..Beijing seems like a cool place to visit."   I'm not sure any of them realize just how hard Paul has worked to get here and what kinds of things (SO many) people have done to help in this process.   They see him come in marked as "unattached"..meaning he doesn't belong to a team.   They look at me and Blake and (probably laugh) at the fact that we are "it" for Paul.   They don't know what he's made of, and they don't know who he is. Well, I felt better after the conversation and per Paul's request, we headed to "Mall of America".   I wouldn't have even known it existed, but somehow Paul always knows this stuff.   Instead of watching TV in our hotel room (got to stay in the awesome room for the whole week!), we went to this amazing mall and checked it out.   It has an amusement park (!!) in the middle of it and a huge underground aquarium under one part of it..very cool place.   It was a good stress reliever to just go there and walk around and look at everything. When we got back to the room, Paul did his shave down (he looks pretty awesome right now!!) and showered.   We crashed hard in anticipation of an early morning today. We all got up (Blake looked like he was going to die..don't think he gets up early very often) and headed to the pool at about 7:30am.   The traffic is always bad here, but I'm catching on to how to get around here, so the drive in was relatively painless considering morning rush hour.   We got to the pool and there were swimmers in every lane..people everywhere, matching shirts, teams, coaches, and...us.   I have to admit it was very intimidating!   Paul didn't say anything, but I think even he was intimidated.   It was hard to get him into the water because so many swimmers were in the lanes and he needed to have people move so he could "fall into the water" from his chair.   Just to get to the end of the lane where he was going in was challenging!   There were wheelchairs and artificial limbs everywhere..like an obstacle course.   I finally just got a little pushy and made way for him so he could get some practice time in before his heat.   It just felt like everyone belonged there, knew what they were doing, and here we were just "winging it"!   This has been a "fly by the seat of your pants" kind of deal since the beginning, but that's always seemed to serve Paul well as he generally has a pretty good sense of what he's talking about..I've just gone along with it for this one! After his warm up, he hung out and waited for his turn...he was in the second heat.   In this enormous pool room, they have this huge screen towards the ceiling in which they were playing a professional video of the last paralympic games.   It got everyone pumped up inside, then they were playing (not sure if this is the right name for the song) "wake me up inside" by evanesence...very exciting atmosphere!...no pics or video allowed btw... Blake and I stood next to him on the deck just before he went in.   We told him how much we believed in him and told him to swim his butt off.   Curtis was in lane 7, Paul was in lane 1.   This was classes S-1 thru S-5 combined.   There was a swimmer on the block (with only 1 leg) standing there (with a person steadying his hips), one on the block next to Paul with just partial limbs (on all 4), others in the water holding the wall, waiting for the start horn.   The range of disabilites is quite interesting there and it's awe inspiring to see people with absolutely no legs, or maybe no arms competing in this event..just amazing. The horn goes off and everyone starts swimming.   We can see that Paul is neck and neck with Curtis (way down in lane 7), but Curtis is doing the backstroke while Paul is doing the "crawl".   As this is a freestyle event, a swimmer can do whatever stroke they want to......!!!!!!!!!!!...a light goes off...Paul's backstroke is MUCH faster than his freestyle (crawl).   He wondered about swimming backstroke, but read that you couldn't.   He swam his best and though he was last in his heat, it was still up there with his good times from home.   I couldnt' wait to tell him the news!   When he was all done, I checked with 3 different people to be sure it was okay and we got the green light for him to swim backstroke in his freestyle event when he returns this afternoon to swim in the finals!!!!   FINALLY...a break!!   We're not sure that swimming backstroke will   get him the times he needs to be eligible to be on the team, but at least it gives him a shot in this S-4 class!!   We are still hoping and praying (of course) that he gets bumped down to the S-3 class, as we still feel it's where he belongs, but thank God there is some hope here! Right now, Paul and Blake are napping until it's time for him to go back for the finals.   I have so much on my mind...I just needed to type it all out and share! Prayers and good wishes please :o)   5pm MN time.   I'll try very hard to post results later on.   Thanks to everyone for your support! Love to all,   Jean

from the family site (jean) paul's mom
Topic: Injury Details & Progress

Well, it's Wednesday..the classification is sortof over..what a day it was yesterday!   I'm rolling up my sleeves as I type here..and I'll try to keep this as condensed as I can..it's not a simple thing... As we headed off to the pool, we left very early so we could get a good look around and get a feel of the place...we're staying only 8 miles from the Aquatic Center.   The traffic (at 1:30pm) was SOOO bad, it took us 1 1/2 hrs to go 8 miles!!   I actually called the pool and spoke with someone to tell them we would be late because of the traffic..not the best start :o(   We were a bit frazzled, but got to this amazing pool and center, found the appropriate people and got things started.   It's a bit difficult to explain how it felt, but in simple words...cold, clinical, secretive, almost accusing...like a police interrogation.   I kindof felt like we should stand facing the wall and "SPREAD EM!" while they patted us down.   Kindof took all of us back a bit.   Blake was not allowed in.   Paul actually tried to go in alone and they simply said, "you need a representative." and so I came right in (wanted to anyways).   There were six people all together.   They were asking him question after question about how many yrs he's been swimming, what does he do to train, all kinds of questions about his injury, any recent surgeries (should've heard the gasp in the room when he mentioned he had stem cell surgery in Portugal!), etc...   Not only were they asking him questions, they were poking and prodding him all over his upper body.   They were especially interested in his hands, arms..what he had for strength..they would mention numbers..so we "got" that a 5 was considered full function as they were testing his (very strong) arms and shoulders.   When they got to his hands, there were 2 women testing the hands, one on one hand, one on another.   The one testing his left hand was in a wheelchair and she really seemed to know what she was doing.   The other was an older (elderly) lady and she kept coming up with the same numbers as the one on the left.   The function in his hands is drastically different!!   The second phase of it was for them to evaluate him swimming.   They told him to go warm up and they would watch him when they came out, but the college girls swim team was having a practice and there were several girls in the lane they told him to go in, so obviously, he didn't go in the pool.   They came out and the one guy (Paul refers to him as the "dirty hippy"..and that's a really good description..you think Paul's hair is crazy...) tells me "for future reference", he would expect Paul to be in the water and warmed up by the time they come out.   When I explained that there were several people swimming in his lane, he was like, "oh, no, I understand, just next time make sure he's warmed up."...DUHHH!   That was just adding to the ickyness of the whole situation!!   It was very frustrating.   After watching Paul swim, he said, "well, we have some things to discuss and then we will come out and give you our answer."   I said, "When you come back, will you talk to us about how you came up with the number?"   He pretty much said, "no, but we'll give you the number." About 3-4 min later, he comes out and tells us Paul is an S-4!!!!!!!!!!!   Just to refresh memories, we were hoping (and planning) for an S-2.   We thought MAYBE they would feel he was an S-3 (which would still be difficult, but with hard work, he could still be competitive), but never in our wildest dreams would we have said an S-4!!   People in this class have their FULL hands and all or part of their trunk working for them.   The times from S-3 to S-4 are pretty drastically different because the S-4's have so much more function.   It was like being punched in the gut...really hard...   It reminded me of the time Paul was wrongly tested in Atlanta and the (doctor) told him he would never qualify for the Portugal surgery.   I was a pile then and that's a bit what I feel like now.   It is not right or fair and when I expressed how surprised I was at the result, the "dirty hippy" just said, "sorry you are disappointed."   Well in S-4 Paul wouldn't have even come close to the qualifying times to swim, so I asked, "can he even still swim in this meet?"   He was like, "oh, i don't know, I don't have anything to do with that part.   You'll have to ask one of the ladies upstairs about that."   We (me Paul and Blake) make our way to the upper level feeling very defeated.   We talked to the ladies at the registration table and asked if Paul could swim.   She looked confused and said, "well of course."   and then headed down to check on why we had been sent up to ask that in the first place.   As we waited, there were 2 other ladies at the table that we began talking to.   I was telling on of them about the classification and she did actually offer some insight.   She said it's not all based on what Paul has, it's partly based on what they think he has potential for.   We got on this subject because Curtis Lovejoy (who's an S-2!!) has trunk muscles and can stand up, take a couple steps backward and sit in his wheelchair, can ride a spin bike, etc.   He was at the pool and we saw him stand and take steps (for ourselves)..so HOW is he an S-2 and Paul is an S-4??   Partly because he had so little fuction   when he started that they never thought he would have POTENTIAL to get this far..so as many times as people have protested his class, he remains an S-2....not fair!   Seems more like it should be based on what you have now.   Seems kind of stupid to put someone so high that it might screw them out of even being able to see how far they could go because they can't afford to make swimming towards this goal their full time job (with no pay)!   She also said that they could change him to an S-3 after watching him compete..it's not fully decided, but pretty much so.   The hippy even said, "his numbers are low."...meaning he JUST BARELY made the S-4 class.   So why do that to him?...I just want to know why??!!   Why can't ONE SINGLE STEP of this journey be easy?!....isn't there an easy button here?! We left the pool, and went to dinner.   How was Paul do you ask?..well, pretty bummed out at first.   He had already picked himself up by the boot straps by the end of dinner.   Gotta give that kid/guy/man/.... credit!!   He always has a way of looking at the bright side. Today we will (play "Bad to the Bone") and shave his head.   He will go to the pool to practice his swimming.   I have decided to do some more investigating on the criteria for the S-4 class and make some phone calls to see if we can get this situation corrected before we leave.   Seems like the "firing squad" isn't going to change their opinion without something short of a miracle.   I realize that people come in and lie and cheat and pretend they don't have function that they do have, but they asked Paul to come in and try his hardest (which he absolutely did) and to be honest (which he absolutely was) and it just seems like he got it stuck to him as a result.   Please please pray for (the right words to come out of my mouth!!) with whoever I do end up talking to and for this to be corrected.   We would like to see Paul in the S-3 class by the time we leave here. Thank you for your support :o) Love to all,   Jean

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Classification day

Wow!...is what I'm thinking as I sit here..just thinking about yesterday.  We headed out for MN yesterday afternoon.  the weather at home actually wasn't bad..54 degrees and a little overcast.  It's been so cold this winter and we just recently had quite a snow fall!  for once we were actually heading some place with worse weather than  Rochester, NY!  Blake was with us, but flying a different airline because we booked him after our trip was booked.  Due to bad weather in chicago, all of Blake's flight had to be changed, and he ended up leaving close to us.  He connected in Philly, we went to Atlanta.  Flights were delayed on both ends.  Ours was delayed 6 times(!!) and I was stressing because the car rental place was closing at midnight.  Paul sat there (his usual "cool as a cucumber demeanor") and reminded me not to stress about something I couldn't control.  I called the car company and explained our situation.  A kind voice on the other end of the phone agreed to wait for me to get there.  We didn't land until 12:20am and it was snowing!  As we were flying into the "snowing clouds", it looked like water next to the plane.  As if we were behind a boat and the water "spray" was going along side the plane..very unusual and neat looking.  I ran all the way to car rental and got a very nice minivan..yeay!..no dismantling the wheelchair every time we go somewhere.  I got on the loop to come around and pick up Paul and Blake..it was slow moving and very snowy here!  After a brief scare (my bags were delayed and feared lost!), they ended up finding them and I picked them up.  The driving to the hotel was actually scary!  There was so much snow on the roads and not one snow plow was out...it was weird.  thanks to Paul and Blake (and Blakes handy gps on his phone) getting to the hotel was relatively painless as far as directions go.

 We arrived at the hotel and it was full.  We did have a room reserved, but actually ended up in a nice roomy suite because they didn't have a cot for Blake..I'm praying we can be there all week!  By the time we got settled in and layed down it was 3am!!

We've been up this am, eaten a pretty good (free) breakfast at the hotel and I'm just posting before we head to the pool later on for Paul's classification.  We are excited about this meet, but the classification will be the defining moment on this trip!!..so LOTS of prayers and well wishes at 3pm MN time!!  Yeah!  I'll post later and let you know how this turns out.

Love to all,   Jean

Minneapolis, MN...coming right up!
Topic: Injury Details & Progress

It's been about a month since I last posted, so just wanted to touch base here.  This big swim meet in MN is just around the corner.  We leave March 31st and return April 6th.  Paul has been busy training for his events.  He's in the pool 5-6 days a week, swimming about 1500yards each day!...he says, "that won't sound like alot to a swimmer."  Well, I don't know if I could swim 50yards, let alone 1500!!....Go Paul!!  Besides the pool workouts, he does 90 min of handcycling and free weight work outs several times a week.  He is ripped in his upper body!  I was looking at him in this t-shirt that he wore last summer and he's "bustin out" in the arms from his muscles.  I love it!  He seems so strong and healthy.  I think he's in pretty good shape for this meet.

 The first big step is the classification.  This will take place on April 1st.  We are hoping and praying that he makes the S-2 class as we feel this is right where he belongs.  His times are "middle of the pack" in this class.  Once the classifications are done, he's got one day to practice in this "long form" pool, then 4 events to swim over the following 3 days.  We're hoping to know by the time we come home (on April 6th) whether or not he made the team!

It's been very exciting getting ready.  While Paul has been getting ready for the meet (by his workouts), Gma and I have been getting the TONS of paperwork in order...should he make the team.  You actually have to go through the process of "longlisting" him.  This includes submitting all kinds of paperwork regarding what he agrees to do if he is a team member and measuring every inch of his body for the "official" olympic clothing, to info for his bio, pictures of him, etc!  It's a pretty big deal and something you would never realize unless you're doing it.

I don't know if I mentioned or not, but Blake is definitely coming with us.  We got his flight all set and he is very excited about it.  There's alot of anticipation and it will be great to be on the other side and know how this turns out....like much of Paul's story..on to the next chapter..cliffhanger ending.  It's a great book though :o)

On a different note, I did want to mention a little bit on an event rider named Darren Chiacchia.  He is an outstanding horseman that competed in the Olympic games in Athens 2004.  He has many talented horses and students.  He rides in our area over the summer and competes in many of the events that I ride in (only at a much higher level, of course).  He heard about Paul's situation back when we were raising money for Portugal and donated to our fund.  He also offered to have Paul sit with him while he signed autographs at the Stuart Horse Trials.  He sent Paul this beautiful photo of him riding Windfall (jumping a gorgeous boat jump) with some inspiring words written on the picture and signed by him.  Well, last Saturday 3/15/08, he was airlifted off of a course in FL after his horse took a misstep and sommersaulted (landing on Darren).  Darren suffered 2 punctured lungs and multiple fractures as well as a severe head injury.  It has been one week and he still remains unconcious and on a ventilator.  His family has been by his side since his accident and I can only imagine how their world has been turned upside down!  Please pray for Darren's recovery.  If you want to read more about him, you can google darren m chiacchia and his site will come up.

Love to all,     Jean

Paul makes the times!
Mood:  happy

I know Mom put a post on here about the swim meet (thanks Mom!), but I would like to add some of the "stats" as well as my perspective on the event. Let me just say that it was SOO exciting to be in that pool room again to see Paul swim!   He did get a full body suit and had it on when he got there.   It's funny, he expressed some embarassment over swimming so slow against other people.   Paul never gets embarassed!...besides, I tried to tell him that not only is he there only swimming for himself, there are so many people here supporting him that.........who cares! His first event was the 200 free.   This is down and back in the pool 4 times!   His form looked very good.   The suit seemed to help quite a bit (to compress his body and somewhat straighten his legs).   He moved right along and Blake was quite excited becasue he could tell Paul was going to beat his current "best time".   He HAD to make the time of 7min1sec in order to qualify for the MN swim.   His current best time was 7:35, so he knew it was going to be a close call.   He went a 6:10 !!   Awesome!!   We were psyched as he started things off very well.   Mom and Dad were there in the stands.   That was awesome.   As Paul swam his entire last lap, the pool room was quiet (as all the swimmers had long since finished), then people started clapping and cheering, whistling and yelling, "come on Paul!"   "go Paul!".   They did this for his full lap until he touched the finish wall.   It was so awesome it was all I could do not to cry!   Paul was pumped when he saw his time. After a little rest, he swam the 50 free.   This was a sprint down and back once.   He had to make the time of 1:41.   His current best time was 1:44 (so again another close one).   He went a 1:24! The third event was the 50 backstroke.   This is and has been his best stroke.   He had to make the time of 2:01.   His best time was already a 1:15.   He went a 1:13...awesome!! The last event was the 100 free.   This is down and back twice (and right after swimming the 50 back).   He had to make the time of 3:32.   His current best time was a 3:24.   He went a 3:01! It was so fantastic to go and watch!!   Paul swam his best.   Blake has been a great coach for him so we added him to our MN trip!!   He will continue to train.   I am so proud of him!!