Jan made the front page

April 14, 2006

As many of you know, my daughter Jan has been training for a Hike for

Discovery to be held this may at the Grand Canyon. We just got a

write-up in our local free weekly newspaper. You might want to look at

it.

The three months of training has been a good focus for Jan in spite of

bad weather that stopped a number of training hikes. Yesterday she did

two hours on the treadmill, one at a brisk walk on the flat and one a

little slower at the maximum incline. Today she agreed to 70 minutes

and tomorrow we have a six hour hike that I'm hoping doesn't get rained

out. This spring has been record rainfall in our part of California.

Anyway, we think the reporter did a pretty good job pulling things

together from a long disorganized interview. It emphasis Jan as a

person and down syndrome as incidental.

For the local Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Chapter, this has been a

learning experience. They just weren't prepared to have someone like

Jan who is a little slower than everyone else, but at least as

dedicated. I've had to do some intervention to make sure that the

understood what they had. It wasn't until three weeks ago when Jan and

I were bringing up the tail end of a roughly ten mile hike that the team

leader saw her still able to break into a slow jog as we were on our

last mile toward home. It made me feel good, too, because I don't want

to feel that I'm grinding her into the ground with these heavy exercise

events.

Rick .. dad to 33 year old Jan

p.s. her apartment is looking like a sure thing. As soon as the Section

8 paperwork gets finalized and processed, she can move in. She got her

second choice, one overlooking a central patio and with a neighbor on

only one side and below. No one on the other side or over her.

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