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.

It has been slow going, trying to get back into the swing of things since returning from vacay. Part of it probably has to do with the fact that I’m battling bronchitis. It is pretty pathetic the way that Reagan and I have been passing germs and viruses back and forth, for the past few months. I’m supposed to be running the NYC Marathon next weekend and I haven’t run since the Hartford Marathon. Yeah, almost a month. We are also supposed to be doing the Halloween thing this weekend. I have spent zero time on a costume. I have also been working from home for the past few days, to avoid freaking everyone out with the coughing. So, I’m rocking 2 day old 5 o’clock shadow. I did make it outside last night, though. I shot an event celebrating the launch of a new collaboration between Rag & Bone and Timberland boots.

It was pretty cool, stylistically. But from a literal temperature point of view, it was hot as hades inside. The weather yesterday was mid 70′s with rain on and off. It felt like a swamp. Two favorite things about the party (both pictured above): 1. The DJs were spinning real 45′s, instead of the usual macbook pro hooked up to the digital turntables; 2. Terry Kennedy made it out.

My third favorite thing, was the boot maker. There was a dude at the party actually building a pair of boots (Below).

Final thoughts for this post–

It’s finally official. Woot.

It didn’t exactly go as planned. But, whatev.

I was so stressed about this race that I had bad dreams all night, the night before, about not being able to find the starting line, about Reagan making secret breakfast plans that made me miss the starting gun, etc.. I’m not sure why I was so worked up about it. The weather was awesome, I had family there. I had friends there. Reagan was waiting at the finish. It was basically ideal. I have an amazing gift for psyching myself out. I’m sure that totally slacking on the training for the last two weeks factored in.

To sum up what happened, my goal was 3:10. I scored a 3:24. I blew it in the last 4 miles. Until then, I was on or ahead of pace. But, I’m trying not to feel bad about it. It wasn’t one of those races where afterward I was like “crap, I should have pushed more at mile such and such.” I pushed hard. I was doing awesome (by my personal standards), until about mile 22. I really just ran out of energy. I could feel myself slowing down and it made me really, really mad. I could not physically make my legs move any faster. When the 3:20 pacer guy blew past me at mile 24, it almost crushed me. I could go on and on about the highs/ lows and mental/ physical experiences of the race, but I’ll spare you.

Overall, it was a great experience. We met up with my cousins on Friday and drove to Hartford with them. They were able to meet Piper on the way up, which was awesome. We even were able to have dinner at my cousin Jill’s in-laws place in Glastonbury with the whole gang. It was delicious and fun. We was also able to meet my cousin Jill’s husband for the first time.

In a surprise move, Reagan decided to go ahead and run the half-marathon at the last minute. She has been trying to recover from bronchitis for the last two weeks, so I just kind of assumed that she was going to sit it out. She is one tough/crazy cookie. I can’t say that I blame her for doing it. It is hard being there with everyone getting ready to race, feeling that powerful energy and excitement– without having a very strong desire to participate. She said that she didn’t have a very good race. But, I’m pretty impressed that she tackled it at all, in her condition.

Next race: NYC Marathon, in 28 days. From what I have heard. It is kind of a big deal. Hehe

I’m starting to get the jitters, big time for the race on Saturday. So, to distract myself, I thought that I would post a couple of photos of our new apartment. Yeah, we were tired of the walk up and all of our old crappy furniture, so we moved into this place. Psyche! These images are some that I did recently for Curatedmag, of the new items at BoConcept. I love pretty much everything in that store, and not just because I have Danish roots! I didn’t spend as much time as I normally do, squaring up the shots and pulling out lens distortion. But, you get the idea.

One more–

Other cool stuff that I saw on the webz today:

–What it is like to be hit by a speeding car, and live.

–Last week, I mentioned the El Mac exhibit that will be at the Joshua Liner Gallery later this month. Well, El Mac issued a teaser video, that actually shows him working on a piece. Very, very cool.

For the weekend:

Friday: We will be heading out pretty early for a long visit with Piper, on the way to Hartford. The way things ended up shaking out, some of my cousins (the ones who are also running the race on Saturday) are currently in NYC. So, they will be coming to meet Piper and riding to CT with us. I’m pretty excited about it for various reasons. I haven’t seen these cousins for several years, and it is always exciting when Piper has a chance to meet a blood relative.

Saturday: Race hard. Try not to be disappointed with the results. Visit PJ. Drive home. Rest.

Sunday: Picking apples in the country?

I posted some kind of creepy photos in the spirit of it being the month of Halloween. They aren’t nearly as awesome as these ones, that I saw yesterday. But, who can compete with that kind of stuff!? Don’t worry, Reagan isn’t dead. These shots are from a session that we did with a painter friend of ours who asked if he could use Reagan as a model. Some of the poses that he had her in seriously looked like she had just ODed and collapsed, or something. The shots above are just two of the 400-something frames that we shot. I’m curious to see how the piece comes out. I’m sure it will be awesome. He does great work, and I mean, with a model like Reagan, you can’t really go wrong (even if she looks dead).

Exciting things happening this month:

I have some pretty interesting sounding shoots lined up, including two art exhibits that I’m pretty excited about. One is at the Met, an Exhibit by Miro, called the Dutch Interiors. From the description, it looks like it will be Miro’s take on the old Dutch Masters (which may me my favorite painters, ever). The other will be on display later this month at the Joshua Liner Gallery in Chelsea. The artist is El Mac. The reception that night is open to the public, so feel free to check it out. Thanks for the heads up on that one, Dan!

The weekend of the 9th, we will be racing at Hartford. The image above is from the 2008 Hartford Marathon, at about mile 23. Last year (below) I was not doing smiles or thumbs up at Mile 23. That was taken near mile 20… I was dying.

I’m still trying to figure out which one of those it is going to be (thumbs up, or dying) this year. Don’t ask me how the training is going. They did restructure the course for this year, though. I think that I will like it better, because they got rid of a nasty section of hills that was right at the end of the race. By “got rid of,” I mean, moved them to the beginning of the course, so that people will still have energy when they encounter them. It will be a fun ordeal regardless of outcome. Reagan will be doing the half, as will several of our friends. My friend Mike “might” be running the full with me. Also, some of my cousins will be in town running the half. So cool. This will be the first time in my adult life running a race together with a blood relative. I’m pretty excited about that.

Shortly after the marathon is my birthday. I’m not huge on birthdays, but I thought I would throw that in there.

Shortly after my birthday, we will be taking a road trip to the Smokey Mountains of Tennessee. We will be meeting up with Reagan’s family, there for a reunion and to celebrate the return of Reagan’s brother from a long stint in Mexico as a missionary. I have never been to Tennessee, so I have to say that I’m quite curious and excited to check it out. Plus I always have a great time when we get a chance to hang out with Reagan’s family. And, I mean…. road trip. Can’t really beat that.

To round off month #10 is, of course, Halloween. Not sure what antics Reagan is cooking up for this year. But I’m sure that they won’t disappoint. We are also keeping our fingers crossed about a possible visit from my sister Sarah, that week. Happy October!

Above is an image that Andrea snapped for us in the post finish. Below are some heavily watermarked photos of Reagan and I during the race.

[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.

Friends, it’s time that we bring this work week to a close. It has been real. It has been fun. Wednesday night, I shot my last FW gig, for this round. My favorite image is the one above. It was back state at at swimwear show. It is of a Portuguese speaking sparrow, who is saying “Not only high on life.” Not sure what that means. But hey… go get em, sparrow! Thursday is the last day this week that I have to go into the office. Friday, we set sail for the land of brotherly love, Rocky, and cheese steaks. Reagan and I will be joining some friends in a little 13 mile foot race through that town. Even though I am bound to earn an F- for running this week, I’m still excited to get out and run a race with some tight friends this weekend. Highfives.

Photos, above and below, are of Reagan’s new dress that she is so proud of. Hahahah. I’m not particularly proud of either of these photos, but Reagan’s cuteness definitely comes through. When I look at them I start singing (in my head) “I put my hand upon your hip. When I dip, you dip, we dip.”  We went on a date last night, in keeping with my resolution to try to step it up in that department.

On running: I used to do it. Apparently, I don’t anymore. I haven’t run since Saturday and it is kind of freaking me out, since if anything, this is when I should really be stepping it up. I don’t know if it is because of the changing seasons, the lack of sleep, or what. But, I have seriously not been able to drag myself out of bed early enough to do it. In the past, I could just make up for those kinds of days by running in the evening. But now, it is getting dark too early. Plus, I have been booked every night since last Friday. I really hope that one day soon, like, maybe tomorrow (since I’m working tonight), I can be a runner again.

I was up an out early this morning, shooting some more eyewear. It was a gorgeous morning, both in terms of weather and light conditions. When I first came out of the apartment door, I startled a little bird. Apparently it had taken a wrong turn and ended up inside of our apartment building. I snapped a quick shot of the little guy/girl, sitting on the stair landing that leads to the roof. I called back into the apartment for Reagan to come see. She loves him/her. When I came back from the shoot, I noticed that Reagan had put some bread on the stairs. That way, even though the bird was lost, it didn’t have to be hungry. Hehe

Sam A. was workin’ it well for the camera, as always. We got some pretty good stuff this morning, including the shot below.

Since the weather was so nice when we were out shooting (mid 60′s and breezy), I decided to ride my bike to work today. Boy was that an awesome decision (until I go out and find it stolen [hopefully not]). The breeze kept me nice and cool during the entire ride. I just wore some rolled up khakis with loafers and a light cotton button up. I seriously hope that this weather can stick around for a while.

Speaking of commuting above ground. The run yesterday didn’t go so well. I’m definitely a minimalist, when it comes to running. It is for a good reason, too. Anything flopping against my body or riding up/down while I’m trying to run, drives me absolutely insane. I would run naked, if it were legal. Anyway, the fanny pack was a total disaster. I kept messing with it for about the first 3 miles. After that I gave up and just let it sit cocked to the side on one hip, with the strap wedged right below my hip bone on the other side. It was so annoying that I stopped running after 11 miles, so that I could take the stupid thing off and just walk. But not before getting the shots below. Hahahaha. Enjoy.