Someone from Texas emailed me that link today and I was shocked. Last I heard Paul was packing the bags and moving from Flagstaff back to Ft. Worth. Robert and I even talked about doing an article on him "Where Your Dreams Don't Become Reality" and just highlight Paul's dedication and what he's learned from the journey.
But whoever said Paul came from nowhere to run 29 minutes is wrong. Paul was a stud runner in high school and pretty damn good in college (he is the only guy I know of who left a top 10 NCAA D1 team to go to DII, but he wanted to run under Vigil) but he then started getting injured (torn plantar at Adams St caused his problems). He was on the perfect 1,2,3,4,5 team at NCAA DII XCs at Adams.
Out of nowhere in 94 , 95, or 96 he ran like 44-45 minutes at Gate River Run (after like 2 weeks before running 30+ something for 10k) He loves the sport and just keeps sticking with it.
That year (2002) in Flagstaff he did PR for the first time in like a decade and shows how great the JK plan is. Paul tried out the Fila program a few years before and I remember talking to him just saying, "you and I should train together under JK."
We never were really health at the same time but he's one of the few guys I know I'd have no problems training with (although he runs atrociously slow the first half mile of a run).
Making the Trials seems like a long shot for sure. But his Gate River Run shows he can get in shape quickly. Not sure whether he can do it again but he's got nothing to lose.