A couple of weeks ago, I was doing some work on the north end of our building and noticed that 1 WTC  is now as tall (or taller) than where I sit. I managed to write a quick blurb about that observation on FB. My friend Jon read it and asked me to take a photo. So, Jon, here is your photo. It isn’t the sharpest image, because unfortunately, I’m shooting through dirty glass. But you can definitely get an idea. You can see that they are also making progress with the reflection pools. The one closest to the tower actually has water in it. Gothamist ran an article about it the other day.

As a bonus you can click here for the full resolution image (6.5 MB). Again, not the sharpest.

I dropped my sister Sarah off at the airport this morning before the sun was even up. It was sad to say goodbye. We don’t get to see her or her family nearly as often as we would like to (Alaska is pretty far from here). Reagan and I have been having a blast hanging out with her for the past few days. The way that it worked out, Sarah was able to see Piper almost every day that she was here. The shot above is of Saturday morning. We arrived at Piper’s house right as she was waking up. She still had her sleepy face on. I can’t believe that I didn’t really get many photos of last weekend. I guess that I was a bit preoccupied with the race and stuff. Below is a shot of Piper playing with Reagan, also on Saturday.

Tomorrow afternoon my parents will be arriving for the weekend. It is going to be a lot of fun. It has been a while since they have been able to see Piper. When they booked this trip, I was crossing my fingers that Piper would still be at Blythedale when they came out. It looks like my wish came true!

Completely switching gears, here are a couple of random photos from this week (click to enlarge):

Happy Wednesday!!

Wow, I don’t really even know where to begin, on this one. As I mentioned last week, I was a bit nervous going into this race, given the large span of down time from illness. So, I set a goal for myself to forget about a target pace, and just soak up all of the positivity of the experience. In a lot of cases it is difficult to measure success in achieving goals that are based on intangible and subjective qualities.  But, such was not the case on Sunday. I can whole heartedly say that the 2010 New York City Marathon was the best race that I have ever run. And my time? Let’s just say that I have done worse. Hehehe

I’m just going list out a couple of things that made it so amazing (and try not to get too wordy [because Reagan says that makes it boring]). The first thing is kind of corny- When it comes to trivial things like sporting events, etc., I like to pretend that luck plays a role. So I was a bit nervous that my bib number started with a 13. But I reconciled things, thinking that since this was my 7th marathon, that the lucky seven would beat out the 13. Well, my friends, it totally did. First, the weather was phenomenal. Sunday was the first break in a 3 day streak of rainy gloomy weather (that incidentally picked up again Monday), it was blue skies and sunshine. Next- Having a cheering section that was 2+million people deep was beyond description. It is pretty hard to have a disparaging thought or feeling, when both sides of the course are lined with people cheering so intensely that if you didn’t know better, you would think you were winning the race. Third reason- having family and friends along the course adds another dimension. It is so great to see those familiar faces when you need that extra little boost. I could go on for days. But, I will spare everyone.

Top Photo– Me between mile 23 and 24 waving to Sarah, Becca and Brittany (Photo by Sarah M.)

Above– Reagan and I about to board the bus at the Staten Island side of the SI Ferry terminal, to get to the staging area near the Verrazano Bridge. (Photo by M. Cuomo). Below– Reagan at mile 23 (Photo by Sarah M.)

Above– Some post race hugs. Below– All smiles on the train returning up town. (Photos by Sarah M.)

Yesterday was very productive. I attended the J. Crew Mens Spring 2011 preview (above), as well as the Levi’s Spring 2001 preview (Below). A nickel if you can correctly name the venue for the Levi’s event.

I capped things off at the Rubenstein Gallery, where there was an opening party for the Brooklyn based art collective Faile (below).

Tonight is going to be equally busy. But the best part about tonight, is that I’m also picking up my sister from the airport! Woo hoo. I love having family in town. My cousins are actually already in NY, and went with Reagan to visit Piper today. I’m imagining that there will be more of the same tomorrow, this time with Sarah coming along. Let’s not forget that my #5 ranked Utes go up against #3 Ranked TCU tomorrow. It should be a bruiser.

Now let’s talk brass tacks. I picked up my NYC Marathon race packet at the Javits center this morning. So I now have my bib in hand.  My lungbutter situation has not really improved over the last two weeks. Because of this, I have ruled out getting a good time on Sunday. Reagan is in a similar place, health-wise. She was even talking about skipping the race, at one point. I’m glad that she changed her mind. Although, I have to admit that the thought has also crossed my mind.

Part of me is absolutely devastated that I am going to be running the premier running event of my life at half mast. Especially since this is the hardest that I have ever trained. Another part of me, is almost kind of glad that I have something forcing me to just go enjoy the experience. Not that it wouldn’t be a better experience in some respects, if I PR-ed. But I think that when I get into competition mode, I tend to miss out on aspects of the race that can only be enjoyed, when I’m not pushing myself and stressing about pace the entire time. One of my most favorite races that I have ever done was the Queens half-marathon, last year. It was a logistical disaster before it even started. We had to walk 3 miles to the starting line. We crossed the starting mats, as the winner was crossing the finish mats. Reagan so pissed about everything that had happened, that she said she wasn’t going to do it, unless I stayed with her. I ran the whole thing at a conversational pace with Reagan and Mike, and enjoyed every mile, even though I scored my worst h/m time that race.

So, my goal for this race on Sunday is to love every minute of it.  I’ll let you know how it goes.

What I meant was, I didn’t have any digital Halloween photos. I did, however bring along the trust Polaroid to the Halloween party. When I say “the Halloween Party,” as far as I am concerned, there might as well only be one. We get together with the same group of friends pretty much every year (except for those who moved away ). Anyway, here are a few shots that I scanned. The shot of Parking Man and Scissor Girl, was actually taken by Edward Scissor Hands (that dude has some serious dexterity for being of the scissorhanded persuasion).

The weekend was a good one. I’m not a person who get’s really amped about Halloween. So, Reagan made up the gap and put together a costume for me, since I had to end up working most of the day Saturday anyway. I was “parking man.” I didn’t get any photos. I’m sure that Reagan will put a few up at some point. BTW, Reagan is one of the people who says “costchewm,” while I pronounce it “costoom.” So, I snicker every time I hear her say it. Back on point–check out the photos of Piper at her Halloween parade, if you haven’t already.

Despite having to work, and the other activities of the weekend, we were able to spend some really fun time with Piper. One of my favorite photos of the weekend, is above. Piper was trying to crawl underneath a chair, without taking her eyes off of Fantastic Mr. Fox. Skills, I tell you.

Piper was in an awesome mood both Saturday and Sunday. Saturday, we had a tickle/hangout session before Piper was worn out and decided to take a nap.

^—tickles… and the nap –

Sunday, some of our good friends, Sam and Anna came to meet Piper for the first time. Here is Piper hanging out with Anna and Reagan.

One more item of note, is Piper’s new silver moccasins. She loves them. Sometimes she feels like she can’t inspect them closely enough.

For the rest of the photos from our Piper visits this weekend, go here.

Last weekend, Maggie, one of Reagan’s good friends that she grew up with in TN was in town with her fiance from DC. It was especially cool to see them because it was our firs time meeting her fiance, despite failed previous attempts.  One of the things that we did was visit an exhibit at the Brooklyn museum, of work done by an artist on a show that Maggie and Ben watch.

The dude’s work was pretty cool. Most of it was painted or drawn. But there were two large sculptures in the center of the exhibit, that reminded me of something extracted from the ancient Pompeii.

Below: Maggie and Reagan being dramatic.

We capped off the afternoon picking up a slice in the FiDi. Reagan snapped the shot below from the upper level of the dining room.

[Warning: this post goes on for a while]

Dudes, I’m not really even sure where to start. It was a crazy weekend, for sure. I guess that sort of backwards is the best way to go, since I posted the screen shot of my results, first. For once, I finally attained my pre-race goal. I was shooting for 1:30 in this race and hit it, with 45 seconds to spare. I was so stoked about it. Using the standard formula of doubling that and adding 10 minutes, for a full marathon time, I’m almost on pace for marathon season, next month. I guess that is all I’m going to write about the actual race, because I don’t want people to get bored. But, I will add– run this race (command). I have run it multiple times, now, and can say that it is my favorite race (no offense NYRR), period.

Reagan did a lot of dancing this weekend. It all started at the race expo, when we walked into the convention center, where they had smoke machines going at the door (above). I also got a sweet video of her dancing at the post finish, to Salt and Peppa (I might post that later). That Reagan girl loves to dance.

^–for brunch Saturday, we went to this awesome little breakfast joint that serves stuffed french toast (challenge, Foodie?). Yes, apparently some people don’t feel like french toast has enough sugar by itself. Later that day, we hit the U-Penn campus (below). Sorry, freshmen.

Reagan caught up with Ben Franklin.

After U-Penn, we headed back to downtown Philadelphia.

Oh, wait. Did I mention that the ladies sneaked in a 3 hour shopping binge at “Anthro?” Yeah, peep the copious shopping bags, below.

Since this post already has 10000 images, what are a few more?

^—Tropicana train

^–Maverick. Below: pretty subtle/sick street art.

Friday, I shot the opening of the new TH store in SoHo. It was a pretty cool setup. I really liked the image above.  Saturday morning, Reagan and I worked on shooting another tutorial for her hair blog. It was fun, because we had a couple of our friends over, giving us a hand with it. It felt a lot more like just hanging out with friends, than it did work, which is always nice.

Saturday afternoon, we visited Piper. We only brought the Polaroid in with us. We took several shots of us hanging out with Piper, then laid them on the top of her transparent crib roof, so that she could see them when she looks up. It seems like she really likes them. We let her hold the prints and look at them, first. But, she ends up trying to fold them in half when they are in her little hands too long. Hahahah.

After our Piper visit, we continued up to Norwalk CT to hang out with one of our good Friends. We grilled out and went to bed kind of early, since we had a 13 mi run scheduled in the morning. The run was Awesome! We went all through Norwalk and Darien, along the water. The weather was fantastic! Afterward, we had lunch at this little place on the water.

In the afternoon, we hung out with Piper again. She was a little grouchy at first, but quickly warmed up and was all smiles. This shot below was probably the cutest one of the day. Reagan has been trying to teach Piper about hugging. I don’t know if she really “gets it” yet.  Reagan has to position Piper’s arms, etc.. Even if Piper doesn’t fully grasp what is going on, it is pretty apparent that she is enjoying the process.

Here for a few additional shots of our visit with PJ.

Monday, true to Labor Day form, we took naps, watched a movie, hung out and made cookies. No complaints, here.

When my alarm went off this morning, it was pouring outside. So, I didn’t get up and run. I only have 5 miles scheduled for today, so hopefully I will be able to sneak them in this evening. It looks like I’m going to have to have to get wet at some point this week, though. I just checked the forecast and apparently it is going to be raining until Thursday.

Yesterday evening shaped up nicely. We did a couple of videos for Reagan, then shot some stills (also for R’s hair blog) on the roof with umbrellas. Just when I had resigned to being a homebody for the day, I received a text from some of our friends to hang out at their place. We had a blast hanging out with them and eating some delicious food together. They live about a mile and a half up Broadway from us. Since we had the dog with us, we had to make the journey on foot. MTA doesn’t allow dogs, unless they are in a carrier. Plus, we learned the hard way that the little guy gets car-sick pretty easily.  So, all three of us had a really fun night-walk through the park in the rain, on the way home.