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.
I recently came across the amazing story of Lentil, which is heavily trending on the web right now. Lentil is a 6-week-old french bulldog puppy born on February 2, 2013 and is the only survivor in his litter of 4 (one of them also was born with a cleft). Taken from his mother too early, surrendered by his owner, and left in a state when failure to thrive was at its greatest, this little fighter won the hearts of thousands of people all over the web. Now he has almost 23,000 fans (and counting) on his Facebook page, a loving foster Mom and is growing stronger each day – soon to find a forever home with the help of the French Bulldog Rescue Network.
Anyone who knows me knows I’m one of the biggest dog lovers in the world, but this particular story really pulls on my heart strings. During my specialty training in Pediatric Dentistry at Stony Brook University, my director was an integral part of the multi-specialty Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Team at the Stony Brook Medical Center. He would get paged when a baby was born with a cleft (lip, palate, complete or partial) and he would drag us into the hospital to see the whole process begin. I was blown away. Dr. Fred Ferguson would examine the baby, take an impression of the baby’s mouth in sticky compound material and design an appliance that the baby would use to feed (and thus thrive) properly. He would design the appliances with acrylic and medical tape and work off of trial and error, following the babies for weeks and months and continuously designing different appliances designed to help the child feed, mold the soft tissue and other functions in preparation for various surgeries that the child would undergo in phases. It was magically, especially given the fact that Dr. Ferguson was never officially trained to do so. I realized how very crucial that first contact with the baby is in order to set the child on a course to thrive and grow properly. Any child who has the support of a cleft palate team from birth is fortunate as it is not a luxury everyone has access to.Let me return to Lentil who is the first dog I have ever “encountered” that has been affected by a cleft. It’s not just cosmetic, but functional as well. Without the help of his foster mom, a daily 3-hour tube-feeding regimen to keep him healthy, monetary support from donations and the French Bulldog Rescue Network Lentil would not have survived. It’s his own little cleft palate team. As much as I wish I could bring you home myself, I’m rooting for you, special little bean!… I’m sure you will find a wonderful family and home soon!
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All pediatric dentists are trying to do their part for National Children’s Dental Health Month. This year we wanted to do something different, something memorable, and something very New York. So this past Monday me and two of the other pediatric dentists in my office hosted our first ever “Mommy & Me Luncheon” on the Upper East Side of Manhattan not far from our practice. Yes, the Upper East Side – what one blogger describes as: “the home to Gossip Girls and ladies who lunch, tree-lined streets, glorious art galleries and the kind of apartments that have gloved doormen and a line of chauffeurs waiting outside.” Pretty true. However, it is also the home to great mothers who care deeply about their children’s health and are tirelessly involved in the community in which they live. Something I learned first-hand at our event. With the help of one of our friends (and an UES mom herself), we found the perfect location in the basement playroom of a very lovely gloved doorman-building in the upper 70’s. Around 20 moms were in attendance, most with at least one of their children in tow (ranging from infant to pre-school aged). Most of the kids in the group are students at a local school, The Garden House School. It was kind of hard not to recognize this fact since most of the girls were still wearing their adorable school uniforms: a periwinkle blue-and-gray plaid dress with matching hair bow. While our hygienists helped practice brushing on puppets with the kids in different corners of the room, we gave brief informative talks to the mommies on topics such as children’s oral hygiene, fluoride, and teething.
After an easy Q&A and some schmoozing, we sent the moms and tots off with envy-worthy gift bags containing: a Brite Smile bleach pen and electric toothbrush for the moms, an electric kids toothbrush, a mommy-and-me toothbrush, a toddler toothbrush, and an infant finger brush. Not only did I have a great time teaching and playing with the adorable kids but I also enjoyed chatting with some of the moms – some very nice, young, stylish women who remind me of my own best friends.
I also didn’t mind showing off my new JCrew shirt, which I used to spruce up a dull Charcoal gray suit. As expected, the shirt did not go unnoticed with the UES moms. Bravo.
Keep an eye out for word of our next Mommy & Me Luncheon. Who knows, it may soon become THE annual event of the future with the “Ladies-and-Moms who lunch” crowd on the UES 🙂
TheTrendySmile 
