This was such an amazing experience for me! I am so truly thankful for all the support from my family and friends.
I headed to Chicago this weekend to run in my first marathon.
While we toured the city, naturally, I looked for any sign of dairy that I could find.
After we arrived on Friday evening, I headed to the Health and Fitness Expo to pick up my packet that contained my bib number, T-shirt, etc…. One of the first things that caught my eye was a huge MILK banner! The National Dairy Council had a booth set up where they were handing out free samples of a new protein drink to replenish athletes after work outs. I talked with a couple of the volunteers and they sent me away with two servings for me to refuel after the race on Sunday!
http://www.victorynutrition.com/hpages/drinks/honeymilk.html
We walked from our hotel to the Field Museum on Saturday so we could take in all the sights and sounds of the city. And what would you know... we didn’t even go 3 blocks before running into the American Gothic couple!

(I made my mom and dad strike a pose!)
The most striking thing to me about this art piece was the not so subtle message that the suitcase at their feet represented. It is decorated with China, India, Bangladesh, etc… stickers which to me portrayed the scary situation American Agriculture is in.
If we don’t continue to support, encourage and promote farms in the US- just like the trend with so many others, agriculture may be another outsourced industry. 
A little further down the way, the kids stopped to pose by a cow that represented Chicago’s “Cows on Parade” from a few years back.

The kids favorite exhibit at the Feild Museum was the Underground Adventure. It was all about the importance of soil. You get "shrunk down" and explore the underground world while learning all about root systems, insects,etc... and how our world benefits from good soil. The kids even played an interactive game where you had to be the farmer and decide whether to use No-till or Plow and what kind of fertilizer you should use- very fun and educational!

I thought this was a great quote!
That night we decided to go to Gino’s East pizzeria. We had no idea what we were getting into! I just wanted to get my carbs and the kids wanted some pizza- little did we know this was THEE pizza place! After 2 hours we were served some amazing pizza!
They say that 1 out of 8 cows milk is used for pizza cheese. Well, if every place was like Gino’s it would bump that number right up to 2!

This place even had the Pizza Cow from “Cows on Parade!”

Race day I made sure to get in my breakfast of Champions- Honey Nut Cheerios with ice-cold milk, packed my Got MILK? Backpack and headed off to the start line! (I had no idea that every other runner would use their plastic bag that we got our packets in for the Gear Check- mine stuck out like a sore thumb!)

After the race I grabbed my Athletes Honey Milk which gave me the energy for the 1.5 mile walk back to the hotel and the 4 hour trip home!
I thank God for His strength and grace that helped me to run an amazing race and qualify for the Boston Marathon! I beat my goal time by about 4minutes! I placed 862 out of 14,567 women! It was awesome!