Not Just A Hat Rack

On Running ... Well...

On Writing Well made a profound impact on this journalism wanna-be back in high school.  I should go re-read it.

To paraphrase, I wish I could boldly state that I'm running well, but, well, it's not up to my standards.  My Moab Half Marathon was 10 minutes slower than Huntsville last Fall, which I can blame on that tapeworm, the 60-year-old disk in my back, my dislike for this version of my Asics shoes and various other excuses.  The bottom line is that I'm not running enough - the catch-22 being that you don't want to run when you're not running well, and you can't run well unless you run enough.  I think.

The Moab Half was relatively pain free and stunningly beautiful so as to provide distraction if I had been aching.  I can't complain about my five-mile jaunt on Thursday to/from Sugarhouse Park - a route where I don't suppress my "house envy" of various domains in this Harvard/Yale neighborhood and stop at any For Sale sign that has a one-sheet property description.  Saturday I had an encounter with the East HS soccer team during my run that jolted my entire perspective - for the better.  Then, Sunday I ran 8.5 miles on a new path for me, Porter Rockwell in Draper.  The first 12 minutes felt like the Prairie Path in the Chicago 'burbs (which I realize I miss dearly!) and the rest I can envision in the Summer as being 2.5 miles of unshaded, sunburnt, asphalt-melting misery - with 9-bedroom homes with seven vehicles parked outside - as entertainment.  But that was three runs in four days and that, in itself, is a good thing.

Maybe I'm thinking too much about running.  It's best when you don't think.  The two Halfs have me thinking about the Ogden Marathon on May 19th-ish.  I'm not thrilled about this race (and this state) which has a propensity for seriously downhill marathons.  They say "great Boston qualifiers" but I think "not so good on the back, knees and quads."  Maybe I'll just do it - and have the surprise marathon of my life (although the alternative is miserable if you're 20 miles in and just don't have it in you). 

Now that I'm writing and learning that Porter Rockwell was called the "Destroying Angel" during his 19th century wild, wooly, Utah life (as personal bodyguard to Joseph Smith AND Brigham Young), I'm at least intrigued enough to give that trail one more shot.  (I also need to go find Porter's Place in Lehi - home of the one-pound "Destroying Angel" burger - wikipedia better not be lying!)

Now if only I could find a flat, tree-lined trail to carry me 10+ miles each way, with water fountains and very few cars.  It could be named after any Utah figure, religious or otherwise, and I'd be happy... and have found my running soul in Utah.

Coming Soon

I never finished my piece on one fervent fan's quest to get Lefty O'Doul into the Baseball Hall of Fame...

I want to weigh in on school vouchers and Utah, including Challenger School's surprising (at first?!) and unconventional response...

I read White Storm, the story of the first 100 years of Real Madrid, and it deserves a place in my Recommended Reads...

East High School lost Coach K a week ago and I happened to cross paths with coaches Rudy and Paul - and there's a story to write there...

I never wrote about Kasey's Wall at Rayo Vallecano.

I want to finish Isabel Allende's Ines of My Soul and tell you about the conquest of Chile by the Spaniards.

SLCC's Community Writing Center is taking submissions until April 14 for its Sine Cera semi-annual publication and I'd like to write something original, or revise the Yomi story.

I heard a fascinating interview with Jon Bowermaster on NPR (where else?) and learned that he's a world-renowned sea kayaker/Arctic adventurer who was born in Illinois and whose first book was a biography of Iowa Governor Robert Ray.  Must learn more...

But there's those nagging deadlines... Taxes and MLS Opening Day.

Too Much Soccer? What's This have to do with Evita?

I'm watching Jamaica's Portmore United and Tivoli Gardens on Fox Soccer Channel on Sunday night... Onandi Lowe, former KC Wizards, plays for one of the team and seems to be the focus of the Jamaican announcers' almost unintelligible English...

Then I'm watching Jamaica and Panama on Monday night... Luton Shelton, who burst onto the Concacaf soccer scene concurrent with Luis Tejada in the 2005 Gold Cup, is playing for Jamaica along with several other players I recognize... (Shelton went to Helsingborgs in Sweden, then Sheffield United for almost 2 million pounds, so I guess he is still out of RSL's price range)

And then later tonight, I catch a few minutes of Norway-Bosnia - and Bosnia, of all teams, has Vedad Ibisevic, who lit up NCAA soccer in 2003 with 18 goals as a freshman for St. Louis University and parlayed it into a big contract at PSG in Paris, and now plies his trade in the Bundesliga's Alemania Aachen...

So I ask myself, when is too much soccer too much?  I'm eager and a little anxious for the start of the 2007 MLS season.  I feel like I have a lot riding on this edition of RSL - jobs and careers are at stake, if you want to be melodramatic.  So I lose myself in more soccer and thoughts like, "That Landon Donovan - he can really play!"  (His performance on Sunday vs Ecuador was quite impressive.  Like everyone, the question lingers, "Where was he during World Cup 2006?")  I think Landon will have the last laugh in the next four-year cycle.

RSL concludes its preseason with one training session in SLC, three in St. George and Saturday's first of at least SIX games against Rocky Mountain Cup rivals, Colorado.  It's time for kickoff luncheons, Sunday night sports shows, RSL radio on KALL from Jerry Seiner's, and meaningful games.  I anticipate this season perhaps more than any in the 12 seasons of MLS. 

It's going to be a great season, I keep telling myself.  I'm excited that expectations are raised by and upon everyone at RSL.  The season can't get here soon enough - even with 51+ RSL & Reserve team games, plus four youth teams to monitor. 

As always, It will be a long, protracted drama.  Do the actors know their lines and cues?  Is the production team ready?  Back of house?  I'm sworn to secrecy, but Noises Off! based on an MLS team has distinct appeal.

I leave you with this non-soccer thought... did you know Patti Lupone of Evita fame (first Broadway play I ever saw - and still one of my favorites) starred in a Broadway revival of Noises Off a few years ago?

Moab

One of my sons nervously poked at the red sand and was delighted to discover a plastic blue dinosaur amidst the vast playground of Sand Dune Arch in Arches National Park.  Moments later, my other son struck gold - or at least a shiny quarter - while poking around in the shady spot on Sunday's picture-perfect 80-degree day.  The joy of discovery was evident upon both of them and any lingering discontent from their career-best 3-mile hike to and from Delicate Arch had long evaporated. 

Mrs. Hat Rack and I enjoyed what I believe is our best weekend as a family since arriving in Utah 2+ years ago.  We both ran the Canyonlands Half Marathon on Saturday.  It's a delicious visual treat of a 13.1-mile descent along the Colorado River to the park on Main Street in the heart of the town of Moab.  I was deliriously happy to soak in the red cliffs and latte-colored langourous river while tuning out the ill effects of the Iberian Tapeworm and three weeks of disastrous training.

While we raced on Satuday, A college of friends tended the children at the exquisite Moab Springs Ranch with the creek running through it.  About eight of us adults ran the race... doctors, pharmacists, an engineer, Pampered Chef and I barrelling down the course.  We celebrated with ice cream Saturday afternoon and everything you could imagine on the barbeque that night. 

Then Sunday, we ventured into Arches NP for our first visit and subjected the kids to the uphill trek to Delicate Arch, which thwarted several grown adults, but not our intrepid lizard and ant explorer duo.  Our boys did fantastic, our daughter was light in our arms - and we took the obligatory family picture from the rim across from Delicate Arch.  Cool, fun, family moment!  And then Mrs. Hat Rack and Lucca ventured to the treacherous base of the arch for a triumphant shot.  It's great that the kids are getting old enough to actively participate.

And speaking of kids, the 'Hat Rack salutes Alexander Emmitt S - future Red Sox fan, tax preparer and soccer player - who was born last week to my college roommate.   

Iberian Tapeworm

All my loyal visitors... many apologies for the lack of posts in the past week (and I have so much material!)... but my return to Utah has been greeted with the presence of some foreign being dismantling my abdomen, one organ at a time.  Maybe it's just stomach flu, but I haven't ruled out flesh-eating disease, appendicitis or the little known malady Iberian Tapeworm :)

I hope to be back to full strength in another 24 hours...

Cheers.

5 Great Stadiums

In honor of my trip today to Rayo Vallecano's "Estadio Teresa Rivero" and Real Madrid's "Estadio Santiago Bernabeu", following is a list of some of the most historic stadiums in the world where I have been lucky enough to watch a soccer game. 

1. Berlin Olympic Stadium (Berlin) - I saw Herta Berlin play in about 1991, but I couldn't help but let the imagination wander back to the drama surrounding Adolph Hitler and Jesse Owens 55 years earlier.

2. Estadio Azteca (Mexico, DF) - I saw the opening match of the 1986 World Cup and a half-dozen other league and World Cup games in 1985-86.  Pele lifted a World Cup trophy here.  Enough said.

3.  Estadio Olimpico (Mexico, DF) - I saw a couple games here in high school.  This is where Bob Beamon etched 29' 2 1/2" into the long jump record books, and John Carlos staged his black-glove protest in 1968.

4. Iduna Stadium, (Dortmund, Germany) - Just six months before this stadium hosted its first World Cup matches, I saw BvB Dortmund and Hamburg SV duel in a Bundesliga match.  The 83,000-seat stadium is Germany's largest and features a South "wall" of fans - approximately 80 rows high of standing, chanting, swaying partisan fans.

5. Rose Bowl (Los Angeles, CA) - I witnessed the US victory over Colombia, which unfortunately led to the tragedy of the 1994 World Cup - the assasination of the Colombian defender whose own goal cost his country the game.  Home to the finals of Men's and Women's World Cups, plus Olympic soccer.

If I had to pick five more that comprise a top 10 of global soccer stadiums:

1. Maracana (Sao Paolo)

2. San Siro (Milan)

3. Wembley (England)

4. Old Trafford (Manchester)

5. Estadio Nou Camp (Barcelona)

Which ones have I forgotten?

Sweet Nectar

Who doesn't love life's little surprises?

The breakfast buffet at our Madrid hotel served peach nectar (juice) this morning, in addition to the typical Euro-watery orange juice, milk, grapefruit juice and strong coffee.  It's amazing to me how I can be taken back 30 years to the taste, texture and fulfillment of this beverage.  Not being one who ate or drank ANYTHING as a child, I have no idea how I ever was convinced to try it in the first place.  But one of my strongest memories of living in Europe from 1975-1977 is drinking this thick, delicious peach juice on a trip to Italy.  I looked for it when I returned to Italy twice in the last 15 years and enjoyed it.  It's never the same in the USA - and I don't recall drinking it anywhere else in the world besides Italy.  The little things that make me happy.