ALLLLLLLLLLLLLL TIME PR!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm feeling a little sheepish. I've been so preoccupied. I think often about blogging, but, it's always when I'm out and about. Then when I get home I have a slew of things I need to get done and blogging is never one that comes to mind. I went to Cincinnati for about a 36 hr visit the end of August. Laura Phelps-Sweatt was in a meet and I really wanted to go see it. I've never had the opportunity to see her in the competition arena. She didn't have her best meet, but I was so grateful to be there for it. She handled it beautifully. She definitely has a world-class attitude. It taught me so much about learning from your experiences and moving on to put those lessons into practice instead of dwelling on what should've been. At that meet, I also got to see the Sweattshop's sponsored lifter, Derek Wade. He put on an absolutely amazing performance. He missed his first squat attempt, and submitted a second attempt that was 30 lbs. heavier. He missed his second attempt and submitted a third attempt that was 20 lbs. heavier. Derek has been chasing a 1,000 lb. squat for a while. And he finally got it. I can't believe the confident attitude and guts that I witnessed to take such jumps when it just very obviously doesn't look to be your day. But, Derek knew what he wanted. And there was nothing that was going to stop him. With nothing to lose and everything to gain he went after it and he got it. This meet was 3 weeks ago and I still think about it like it was yesterday. I learned some valuable lessons. It was an amazing trip. The Paralympics was on!!! It ran for 10 days, the beginning of September and I suppose that's where my preoccupation really took off. I spent every spare minute I could find watching them on the livestream on the Paralympic website. It was so awesome. I cried much. I can't wait to get there. It's such an honor to be a part of something like that. My teammates Mary and Ahmed were able to get many of their lifts up. However, the judging at the international level is extremely strict. All of Ahmed's lifts were DQ'd on technical issues. Mary got a good lift of 283 lbs. and ranked fourth in the world. I didn't get to watch either of them on the livestream. But, I did catch my buddy from Greece, who won a bronze medal in his class. I met him when I was in Malaysia for World's. MY lifting is also going VERY well. I lifted an All-Time PR of 190 lbs. this week!!!!! It's been a while since I hit an All-Time PR on my competition bench. It was VERY exciting. Brian did say that the pause might have been a little short according to Paralympic standards. But, I definitely paused it. It was just not quite long enough to ensure that the subjective opinions of every judge would have given it to me. Walking is going very well. It still makes me tired, but, I'm doing well with it. I very much like to just stand. Brian and I have started some extra recovery methods with the medball. That should help with the stress of walking. So! I THINK that's about all I should catch you up on. I am about 6 weeks out from my competition in Florida. Very excited for that. And then I'll be back in Cincinnati in December.