Eliot Pierce

My friend Cynthia gave me a copy of The Bronx is Burning when I left The Times last August.

I loved this book — Jonathan Mahler paints a portrait of New York in the summer of 1977 that involves Reggie Jackson, The Son of Sam, Ed Koch, Bella Abzug, George Steinbrenner and Mario Cuomo.

I missed this book when it first came out, and also had never even heard of the ESPN mini-series that came out of it. This book is not just about baseball but is rather about urbanity at its rawest… and makes me happy to live in the New York of 2012 rather than that of 1977.

Torrey’s father Peter sent me a copy of E.B. White’s Here is New York that I read this week on the subway. I first read it probably 20 years ago, and found that it still holds up so incredibly well 64 years after it was written in the summer of 1948. While many of the places have closed, others have opened in their place as Roger Angell so beautifully writes in his introduction to his step-father’s essay 50 years later.

But I was particularly struck by what I found on the third to last page:

“The subtlest change in New York is something people don’t speak much about but that is in everyone’s mind. The city, for the first time in its long history, is destructible. A single flight of planes no bigger than a wedge of geese can quickly end this island fantasy, burn the towers, crumble the bridges, turn the underground passages into lethal chambers, cremate the millions. The intimation of mortality is part of New York now: in the sound of jets overhead, in the black headlines of the latest edition.”

I don’t recall reading this quotation anywhere over the course of the last 11 years, since the World Trade Center fell over 11 years ago, but it is just one more example of how this little book captured the essence of New York in 1948 and for many years to come.

I ran the 2011 ING NYC Marathon on Sunday November 8th and had an amazing time. I finished it in 5 hours 12 minutes and 43 seconds which was roughly 10 minutes faster than when I ran my first marathon in 2010. I was disappointed with my time because it was an absolutely perfect day with blue skies, temperatures in the mid to high 50s and I had trained a lot more than I did last year. But I was proud to have ran it, to have finished it, and to have raised over $4,000 for NYRR’s Team for Kids.

In my opinion, Marathon Sunday in New York is New York at its absolute best. With over 2 million fans screaming your name (“Go Orange” because I decided NOT to put my name on my shirt this year), and a 26 mile tour through 5 boroughs it demonstrates the beauty, diversity and toughness of New York. It is intense, in the best sense of the word.

My favorite sign this year was “This is the worth parade I have ever seen” which I saw somewhere in Brooklyn and then again just prior to entering the Park. I still don’t think that it matches my favorite sign from 2010 which was “Run like you stole something” but both both signs signal the humor of the New York city sports fan.

A special thanks to my parents, my step mother-in-law Barb, Torrey and Alice for cheering me on. This photo was taken by mom just prior to seeing Torrey and Alice.

As I mentioned to folks who sponsored me over email, I think that I am retiring from marathon running for awhile and will instead focus on running half marathon’s in 2012…

Thank you, New York.

I have had an intense first two weeks starting my own company.  While I had a fit of productivity the first week, the second week was filled with a few too many meetings — breakfasts, lunches, coffees etc… that I feel like I did not get enough done. But I certainly learned a lot.

But one thing that is great is the feeling that I have gotten out of a rut. Working in a new place, in a new part of New York, with new people, thinking about new things is refreshing.

I have had the pleasure to run home two nights this week – running up the West Side Highway, then heading east at the 79th Street Boat Basin, across the Upper West Side, through Central Park and then home.  It is an amazing way to see New York and energizes me about this new chapter.