My office, Park View Pediatric Dentistry, is one of the sponsoring partners of Moms In Training -NYC. This past Saturday I had the pleasure of attending their final practice before their next race, The Women’s Fast Track 10K on Saturday, June 14th. Moms In Training is a subdivision of Team In Training, made up of over 300 moms from different New York City neighborhoods. Their mission is to come together for one common goal – to save lives and raise funds for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. However, this particular group accomplishes much more. The women in this group motivate each other to get fit, support each other, and have fun. They have professional coaches that help them train and prepare for each race. I was invited on behalf of my office to speak for 2 minutes on why we support this mission. I would have gone running with the moms but as you can see in the photo my left foot is still out of commission following a small foot injury I sustained in the days following my completion of the Brooklyn Half Marathon a few weeks ago. However, once I am allowed to begin to running again, I will most certainly try to get more involved with this group. After all they train in my backyard (Central Park) every week!
Like my shirt?
This past Sunday, April 28, 2013 I was lucky to be chosen in a lottery to run with 14,999 other runners in the Nike Women’s inaugural Half Marathon in Washington, DC. I have done the Nike Women’s Half before in San Francisco in 2007 but this time I did it with a couple friends and made a little weekend road trip out of it. My friend Heather and I drove with our boyfriends to the DC area where we met up with Erika (another race buddy) and her cousin. Whenever Nike comes to town, a portion of the city shuts down and caters to the race. Thus a majority of Saturday was spent at the Nike Expotique where we picked up our race packets and enjoyed a bunch of freebies from Nike and other race sponsers (Luna, Bare Minerals, Paul Mitchell, Nuun, etc). We also shopped at Nike Georgetown where they were offering a lot of event gear specific to this year’s race. We even had some pampering done at a store called Lush that sells homemade, organic body products that doesn’t test on animals. They gave us their “signature” hand treatment…and of course I ended up buying at least $50 worth of their products, including their solid toothpaste ‘Toothy Tabs’ which of course I could not resist trying (stay tuned for a future blog post on my review of this product). We carb’ed up during early dinner and then rested our sore tourist feet (not the greatest of ideas) in preparation for race day.
The next morning, I found myself nervously jumping around at 6:50AM at the starting line with my two running buddies Heather and Erika. Even the most mundane decisions become crucial when mixed with adrenaline: should I keep my sweatshirt on for the start of the race then get rid of it later or just take it off now? Do I need to use the bathroom now or wait until after? Will I be able to finish the race painlessly or in agony? Anyone who knows me knows that I’m not the most dedicated runner. Nike offers a structured and easy-to-follow 12 week training program to prep for the half marathon. Between my work schedule, an endless winter on the East Coast (not lending itself to comfortable outdoor runs), on-and-off colds and just plain lack of motivation I did not follow the schedule. Plus my half marathon goal is usually just to finish and have fun touring a city on foot with friends while running for a good cause (The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society) and not feeling pain in the process. I’ve completed enough half marathons in the past that 13.1 miles isn’t so intimidating (of course, 26.2 would be a different story). Needless to say, the race started and off we went. It was the perfect sunny morning and the perfect temperature to do a 13.1 mile run around the nation’s capital. Roughly two hours later, we finished at the same corner of Pennsylvania & 11th, triumphant with our finisher’s t-shirts and Tiffany finisher necklace in hand. I highly recommend anyone (male or female, as the race doesn’t discriminate) who has ever wanted to do a half marathon to do one of the Nike Half Marathons. Not only do they have the ability to create a party out of a half marathon weekend but they also never cease to improve on the experience. This year they created a website with ‘Live Runner Tracking’ which allows anyone (race spectator or remote stalker) to track a specific runner in real-time with just a bib#. The website also offered ‘Share My Run’ which lets runners set preset Facebook posts which automatically update as they pass through certain designated race locations. (top photo via betweenfriendsblog.com)
Here are some weekend and race day highlights that my boyfriend Mike (and #1 fan) took with his snazzy camera and some from my iphone:
Like what you see? The bracelets you see (with the exception of the red braided bracelet) were designed by my friend Jaime to raise money for the International Essential Tremor Foundation and The NYU Movement Disorders Center. Jaime was recently diagnosed with Essential Tremor (ET) and has been living (and struggling with the symptoms of it) for the past several months.
I had never heard of ET before and, being the sucker for fashion that I am, only learned about it when I noticed one of her bracelets in a Facebook post. Also known as familial tremor, benign essential tremor or hereditary tremor, essential tremor (ET) is a progressive neurological condition that causes a rhythmic trembling of the hands, head, voice, legs or trunk. The symptoms of the disease also make it difficult to distinguish from Parkinson’s disease and dystonia. Treatment includes a combination of various medications such as Neurontin and Topamax but from what I have learned is that less than 60% of people are effectively helped by drug therapy. For hard-to-manage tremors, surgical therapy may be effective in the form of Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS), where an electrode is placed in the thalamus and is connected to a pacemaker implanted near the collarbone; the electrode and the pacemaker help to block brain activity that causes tremors by way of electrical pulses. Either way, a person diagnosed with ET will have their lives altered tremendously. Instead of being defeated by her diagnosis, Jaime has decided to take action and help to raise awareness and money for research to help people with ET achieve the highest quality of life.
These adorable multicolored bracelets signify several things: the International Essential Tremor Foundation (green and black), the NYU Movement Disorders Center (violet and white) and Parkinson’s Disease (silver – studies have suggested that people with ET have a higher chance of developing PD). They are Pura Vida bracelets that are adjustable (with an adorable pink cord) and waterproof so that you can wear them all the time. I stack them with other bracelets as they are so neutral and also part of the trend of creating a personalized arm party of friendship bracelets, hair ties, bangles and charm bracelets. I have only been wearing these strands on my wrist for a day and have already been getting comments on them. They are available for $5 each. For more information you can email me or send me a message and I can provide you with the details of how to order these from Jaime.
TheTrendySmile 
