We won the championship!

Let me break down our season for you:

• First five games: 0-5 (including a loss to the worst team in the league)
  
• Second five games: 2-3 (including a win over the best team in the league)
  
• Playoffs: 2-0

We don't know how it happened, but we're happy that we won. Most of the guys on my football team had been playing together for twelve years and hadn't won the championship once, so it was a pretty great day for all of them. (Me? I waited about twelve weeks for my first championship. Whatever. Us young folks are impatient.) I had a pretty darn good regular season, drawing double coverage, making great catches, and tipping a few passes while playing on defense. My postseason wasn't as great (I dropped some easy passes), but I still had my reputation from the regular season, so teams covered me tight and left my teammates open. And that's how we won, I guess.

The first game was a pretty tight game. We stopped the other team on the opening drive, but then they intercepted our quarterback on the next series. After that, we ended up trading scores back and forth. And then we were down a score. And then, out of nowhere, Rob intercepts a pass and returns it for a touchdown. Just like that, we're up again! As the play clock was winding down, the other team drove down to the endzone and had four or five chances to score. Somehow, we stopped them with about 20 seconds left. Like that, we were moving on to the championship game!

In the first game, we played against some guys who bitched alot. In the championship game, we played against a fun team. Even if we lost, we were going to enjoy this game. Like the first game, it was pretty close. We probably could've broken the game open, but every time a ball was thrown right to me, I dropped it. Again and again. I dropped more passes in the championship game than I had done all season. Early in the game, I made up for it on defense. I tipped a few passes to slow down the other team, and that was great. Later, in the second half, we were driving and we were stuck on fourth and 10. This was my one catch of the half and it was a beauty. I was running across the field and the ball was almost out of my reach. I stuck out my right hand, caught the ball one-handed, dragged my feet before going out of bounds, and I got that first down. Even the other team was congratulating me on that catch.

Moving on, it was the last play of the game. We were down 21-14 and driving the ball. Teams were covering me tight, so we couldn't even use our favorite play ("throw the ball high and Doug will catch it"), but we were still moving the ball. With one second left, we score. We're down 21-20. We could go for one point and try to win it in overtime. Or we could go for two. We went for two. The play was to throw it high to me and I was nervous. Thankfully, the other team covered me with three guys. Ernie was open. It was a simple toss to him and he caught it. We were up 22-21 with one second left. Our team comes running onto the field to celebrate and Matt and I started yelling at them. "Get the heck off the field! There's still time left. Get off the damn field!" The ref was gonna call a penalty on us, but our captain was smart enough to call a timeout.

Since there was one second left, the other team had a chance for a Hail Mary. They didn't have a chance. We set our defense up deep. When the other team threw the ball up, guess who got it. Me. I sealed the victory and we ran around like champions!

We won!

***Next Year?***
Maybe I'll play again next year. We need to recruit a few other young guys to fill out the team. (Besides me, there was only one other person younger than 30.) I won't start thinking about it yet. I'm gonna celebrate first at the end of season part next weekend!

Halloween!

My favoritest of holidays (in the "Non-Federal Holiday" category) has arrived! I was worried that I really wouldn't be able to enjoy it this year because I hadn't decided on a costume until early October, but sometimes those late epiphanies are the best. Too bad Halloween wasn't the only thing going on this past weekend.

On Friday night, Tom was in his second underwear contest in as many months. The first one was of the amateur variety, but this one actually had a slight chance of landing a modeling gig. I'll sum it up like this: 1) It's easy to win when you invited half the crowd there, and 2) It's real easy to win when the half of the crowd that doesn't know for you still cheers loudly because you're the best looking guy up there. So yeah, 1 + 2 = win. Cheers to him!

On Saturday morning, I had to head north for a football doubleheader. Our first game was pretty good, and I have to admit that I had a great touchdown catch, too! (The defender and I were both coming down with the ball. He had two arms on it; I had one. Before we were on the ground, I still had one arm on it and he had none. That's called brute force.) And we won that game for our second win of the season! Our second game was against an undefeated team one level higher than us. Since we knew we couldn't match their offensive firepower, we decided to slow the game down the game after we took a small lead. We ended up having a 10-minute drive in the second half that really upset the other team because we were talking about Halloween costumes in our huddle. We had 25 seconds for each play, so why not use up all the time? And we ended up beating them, too! It seems like we're peaking at just the right time, two weeks before the playoffs start!

After the game, I went out for burgers with my football team and one of the refs (you always have to suck up to the refs), before heading back to my apartment for Halloween. Tom, Matt and Matt's friend Doug from D.C. also came over so we could all get ready for Halloween. I don't know if I want to put pictures of our costumes on this blog (Matt and I were twins, so to speak), but I will say that I normally stand 6'6" from the top of my head to the bottom of my feet. With my costume, I was easily 7'6" from the top of my ears to the bottom of my heels. We were quite a sight to see. (The other Doug was also an important part of our costume. We were a set.) Our costumes were so good that we couldn't walk five feet without people wanting to take their picture with us. We even distracted from the Halloween parade! It was a great, great Halloween. Probably one of my best ever. (If you really want to see a picture, just e-mail me.)

On Sunday morning, I had to wake up early because indoor volleyball season has started. My team is sponsored by the Dark Horse Bar, but we still got a 10:00am start on Sunday. We won three of our four games, which is a good start, but we should've won them all. My serves weren't working, so I just started working on my jump serve during our last game. (With a little practice, I should have that serve down pat.) Afterwards, we went out to our sponsor's bar for a late brunch and a Bloody Mary or two. Then it was time for a nap.

So, there was my Halloween weekend. One underwear contest, two football games, a night out in a costume, and four volleyball games. I was a bit tired at the end.

***Yup, there's my butt...again.***
Two weeks in a row now, my butt has shown on the football field. The first time, someone accidentally pulled down my pants. Fine. That happens. This time was a little more embarassing. I had the ball and didn't want to go out of bounds (because I didn't want to stop the clock), so I just dove forward. When I landed on the ground, I slid forward a bit. My shorts didn't. Whoops! Turns out the tie in my pants had broken.

Next game, I hope to keep my clothes on.

We lost again...oh well.

We lost our football game on Saturday. Though our team-building activities from the previous week didn't help enough for us to win, it was still a very good game. It was back-and-forth the entire time. We just weren't able to pull it out in the end. Oh well. Everyone did get a great shot of my butt, though. I was cutting across the middle and caught a ball in traffic about ten yards down the field. A guy went to grab my flags, but instead grabbed my pants. And that's how everyone saw my butt! I would've scored on the play, since I actually made it into the endzone, but the ball was called back because there was offensive penalty. (It's the third touchdown I've lost this year because someone else on my team has gotten a penalty called on them! I've had my share of penalties, but they're usually on defense.) I still had a few highlight-reel catches, though, so it was a good day. (I possibly also got a minor concussion, I think, but I feel fine.)

After football, Tom and I went out for our friend Rob's going away party. He's moving back to England, so there was a huge blowout with tons of people. We started with dinner with eight people before meeting up with the masses. Because I was exhausted from football, though, I didn't stay out too late or have more than two drinks. (They chose a really crappy bar with a horrible beer selection. I would rather drink water than bad beer.) Even though I only just met Rob this past summer, it's sad to see him go. We played alot of volleyball together and I'm probably going to miss that next summer. (Of course, if he wasn't going back to England, I wouldn't have a volleyball team to play on, since I'm taking his spot.)

On Wednesday, Rob through another going away party that involved a night of karaoke. Wednesday is never a good night for karaoke, but I did stop by Rob's apartment after work, since people were gathering there first. After a quick drink there, Tom and I were off to a benefit with some of his friends. (It was a very casual benefit with performers and schmoozing and whatnot. Very relaxed. Very fun.) After saying karaoke was a bad idea for a Wednesday, I should've known that this benefit would be bad for Wednesday, too. Oh well. You live you learn.

Oh! I forgot! Before football on Saturday, Matt and I went out and bought our costumes! I can't wait for Halloween!

***On Sleep***
Sleeping is important. If you've known me for more than one day, you know how much I love sleep. Anyway, my sleep schedule has been screwed up recently. Because I was coming down with a cold last week, I took some Nyquil before bed just once to control my cough and whatnot. That screwed up my sleeping habits for the entire week. It was crazy. I'm never taking drugs to help me fall asleep again. Not worth it. I'd rather cough all night.

The aftermath...

The week after the marathon wasn't too bad. On Monday, even though I went to volleyball practice, I still had trouble walking up and down stairs. On Tuesday, I only had trouble walking down stairs. By Wednesday, I was feeling good. Since my elbow had pretty much fully healed after a football injury, too, I was able to return to the gym to slowly start lifting weights again. It feels really good to get back into the old routine. I'm still not able to do full sets because I don't want to risk hurting my elbow again, so it might take awhile to gain back the 8 pounds I lost during marathon training.

Now that it's October, work has gotten ridiculously slow. I know I shouldn't say this, but there are some days when I hardly have anything to do and it actually kind of sucks. That's just the nature of the work, though, so I should be happy and take my breaks where I can get them. The only thing I'm working on now is a relationship with a new client. I visited them at the end of September, so now we're just trying to finalize everything. It's looking like it will go smoothly, so I'm happy.

On Saturday, we had two more football games. We started out 0-5, but it seems like we're finally coming together as a team. (We don't believe in practice, so it's taken us a few games to get in sync.) We ended the day 1-6! Yay! Our first win! Afterwards, we joined the team we beat in a really long bar crawl all in the name of "teamwork." We started at 4:00pm. The rules were pretty simple. There were twenty bars on the list and we were only going to be at each bar for 30 minutes. We all had to have one drink at each bar and it was basically a "last man standing" type of competition. I had no plans on going for the win, since I had a budget meeting at church the next morning, but I wasn't going to let that stop me from having a good time.

As expected on a bar crawl that long, there were some places I never even knew existed. By the third bar, people were placing bets on me being the first one to leave. It's cute when people underestimate me. Not only did I stay strong throughout the night, I also won two mini-competitions within the bar crawl. Around the sixth or seventh bar (who really knows?), I got into darts competition with two other guys. One of them had a chance to win, but they busted. As soon as I got my first chance to close it out, I did. At the twelfth bar, we had a punching competition. (There was a punching bag machine that measured how hard you hit it.)Alot of people joined in on this game, but basically came down to me and the quarterback from the team we had beaten. After the quarterback took the lead and was bragging about how strong he is, I got pissed. I took one final hit at the bag and crushed him. Yeah, he came in second place, but it wasn't even close.

I ended up stopping after the thirteenth bar because we were near my apartment and I still wanted eight hours of sleep before church the next morning. I was there on time for the 9:30am budget meeting, so I think I managed my time wisely this past weekend.

***Church Budget***
Who knew putting a church budget together could be so hard? The four-people on the committe are smart people, but it's still a difficult task. We have to forecast giving, expenses, and make plans for all the different ministries within the church, which means we have to be in touch with 10 or 15 other people to get their feedback. It's a crazy process (but worth it).

Marathon!!!!

Yay! I completed my second marathon! Wee! But damn if it wasn't a long day.

So Tom and I woke up around 5:00am to get down to the starting line. Since he ran it two years ago, he offered to to be my guide. Since I wasn't too pumped about running a marathon, I stopped for coffee, hoping that would wake me up. (At the coffee shop, we ran into some teachers Tom had in middle school...Chicago is a strange, small world.) It was really fun getting down to the marathon because there were all these intense, focused runners...and me holding my coffee. When we stepped off the train and got the Grant Park, a beautiful sunrise was coming up over the lake. (I never want to be awake early enough to see that again, but it was pretty.) After checking my bag, I said bye to Tom (he was going to meet his mom, who watches all the marathons) and jumped into the starting corral. I was almost getting excited about running the marathon for which I hadn't done any training over the past month or so. All of a sudden..BAM! The starting gun goes off!

Now, the craziest thing about a marathon isn't the people running the race, it's the clothes they wear. When the guns goes off, people start stripping off their clothes that had been keeping them warm (it wasn't too cold actually, though, because mid-30s is perfect weather for starting a marathon) and you just see waves of sweaters and sweatshirts and hats and gloves being thrown by the 35,000 people in the race towards the crowds on the side. I started laughing at the ridiculousness of the event and I was finally getting pumped for the start of the marathon. (The gun had just gone off, but I was still 12 minutes from reaching the starting line.)

Running the marathon actually wasn't too bad. I managed to keep a really good, consistent pace. Though the race started downtown, it still took me through some streets that I didn't know early. (My supervisor saw me, though, because she said, "Yeah, I saw this tall guy running. I figured it was you. It was.") By Mile 7, I was literally 100 ft. from my apartment (and again by Mile 7.5, because we looped right around my block) and I wanted to quit, but I was feeling great and couldn't think of a legitimate reason to stop. Surprisingly, I was able to run the first half of the marathon without stopping (except for one bathroom break and one time when I didn't feel like running and drinking Gatorade at the same time). Not one part of me was hurting after 13.1 miles and I finished the first half of the marathon in 2:00:20. I'm pretty thrilled with that!

As the race continued, I started seeing more and more parts of the city that were new to me. It was really great to hear the crowds cheering. Without any training, I was able to run the first 16 miles with only minimal walking and no pain. Tom and his mom were planning on going to different parts of the race course to see me at four or five places, but the text updates they were supposed to receive as I ran, though, so I didn't get to see them at the first few places. That's alright, though. Tons of other people were still cheering! Shortly after Mile 16, though, my feet and knees started hurting (slightly). I eventually started a pattern of running and walking, with the running sections getting shorter and the walking sections getting longer. Finally, I started running through Chinatown (Mile 22 or so). The crowds were getting bigger again, so the cheering helped me run, though it wasn't with a smile on my face. As I turned a corner in Chinatown, though, I peak into the crowds ahead and see Tom and his mom! Since they hadn't been getting text updates (and were actually just missing me at a few places), they skipped ahead to one last place and I found them! That really helped with some motivation for a few hundred yards.

The last few miles were painful on my legs, but I realized something around Mile 24: Marathons are actually kind of easy. Mentally, this marathon was a breeze. Self-doubt never creeped in and I never worried about how much longer I had to run. I knew how far 26.2 miles was, so I could see the finish line, no matter how far away I was. I know I did alot of walking for the last two miles, but I was still really happy with what I was accomplishing that day. When the finish line was in sight, I decide I was going to run the rest of it, no matter what (it wasn't a long distance). As I got closer, I could hear the announcer calling out random names of runners as they crossed the finish line. I started thinking to myself, "Who's name gets called? That would be really need if it happened." Then, right as I was crossing the finish line, I hear "Doug Chinery, from Chicago!" and it felt great. I finished this marathon in 4:40:15. The second half was much slower than the first, but I was still nine minutes quicker than I had been in Honolulu in 2006.

In Honolulu, I teared up as I crossed the finish line because marathons are such an emotional event. In Chicago, I teared up with one mile remaining. I don't know why it happened there, but just knowing that you're accomplishing a huge task is an amazing feeling. When it was all over, though, I cursed myself and swore I would never run another marathon. Then I grabbed beer and pizza with Tom and his mom and took a long bath and a longer nap. Below are my split times from the marathon in five-kilometer segments:

0-5K: 29:00
5-10K: 27:23
10-15K: 26:54
15-20K: 30:37
20-25K: 30:07
25-30K: 35:12
30-35K: 38:00
35-40K: 46:49

For not training, I was pretty damn consistent at the beginning.

***Followup***
Monday was a banking holiday (thank God), so I could stay home. I could barely walk, but I decided I was going to run the Chicago Marathon next year. (I changed my mind pretty quickly, huh?) Even though I could barely walk, I made it to volleyball practice that night. On Tuesday, at work, walking down steps was still difficult, but it was totally worth it. Also, on Tuesday, I decided I was running the Madison Marathon (May), Chicago Marathon (October) and New York Marathon (November) next year. And I'm going to use the Chicago Marathon to try to qualify for the Boston Marathon, which means I need to run a 3:15:59 marathon. Now that I don't have a mental block, that should be a snap with a little training!

And it's October!

Yay! It's October! Somehow, it always manages to be a busy month for me. The biggest thing for me this year is that I finally start as a 100% real full-time employee at the bank, which is such a great feeling. I mean, being employed is nice, but not having to fill out timesheets and other menial tasks is the greatest benefit of all. I don't think work will change too much, though. October should actually be really slow for me since I only have one major report due (as about to 10 in September).

Football is going well for the most part. We're now 0-4, but let's not focus on that. Let's focus on the injuries! Last Saturday, we only six people show up to play for our doubleheader. Teams generally need seven people on the field at all times (though I think you can play with as few as five). In an earlier game, I had hurt my elbow while quarterbacking for a little bit so I really didn't want to throw the football, but no one is really a huge fan of throwing the ball around. By the end of the second game, my elbow was killing me. Luckily, I think it's only a strain, so a lot of rest and ice should do the trick just fine. Also, I'm never going to quarterback again. I'm tall. I'm fast. I have big hands. To quote Keyshawn Johnson, "Throw me the damn ball!"

Sandy and Matt came down to Chicago last night. I think this is the first time both Sandy and Matt and been here for an actual visit. We spent Friday night getting appetizers and drinking beer while we watched the Yankees-Twins game (go Yankees!) before picking up some wine to take back to my apartment. Before making it all the way back, though, we met up with Tom and Trygg for some gelato and the little place on my street. It was delicious. Then we went back to my place for a few drinks and some more hanging out. It's good hanging out with them.

The next day, Sandy, Matt and Tom accompanied me downtown so I could pick up my marathon packet. Yeah, another damn marathon. Tom was really excited about it (he wasn't running). I didn't want to talk about it (I was really upset that I hadn't trained for it). Matt and Sandy understood that I didn't want to talk about it. It took Tom a little bit more time, but he finally realized it'd be best to change the topic. After that, we headed over to the aquarium. (I'm now an official member of the aquarium! Free visits for a year!) It's pretty neat. They have a good variety of exhibits and it should be interesting enough to keep me coming back a few times over the next year. We actually spent alot of time there, since we were in no rush. We enjoyed a leisurely lunch, saw a 4-D show, and then watched some dolphin and beluga whale training exhibitions.

After that, Sandy and Matt headed home. "Doug, why didn't they stay one extra day for your marathon?" Good question. (Kidding, Sandy, I'm not mad.) I was dreading the marathon for the rest of Saturday night. But, hey, I signed up for it, so I was gonna run the damn thing. Was I afraid of being in intense pain because of my lack of training? Of course, but I wasn't going to back out now.

September

Yeah, this is my only post to catch up on all of September. I was too damn busy to update it and I'm too damn busy to go back in time and do week-by-week updates. (Okay, I'm actually writing this in mid-October, but I'm backdating it to September just for continuity.) Here's what happened in a nutshell:

1. Friends came to visit. We ate alot of food and saw alot of Chicago.
2. I moved in to a new apartment. No, I don't have pictures yet, but I can sum it up like this: I don't fit in my kitchen, but I do fit in my bathtub. I love it!
3. My bosses came to me and said, "We want you to work for us full-time!" And I said, "Okay!" So, of course, I had to go through phone interviews with NY and fill out an official application. Nothing like corporate red tape!
4. Tom won an underwear contest and will be Mr. October. We'll leave it at that.
   
5. I joined a flag football league! Yay! I'm tall, so I can catch a lot of passes. I've also had to quarterback a few times, but I ended up hurting my elbow. Whoops.
   
6. And I was really busy at work. Really, really busy. Really, really, really busy. Towards the end of the month, I had to drive out to an Indianapolis suburb with two coworkers to visit a new client for a 90-minute meeting. It's basically a four-hour drive to get there, and then we had to drive back in the same day.

So, yeah, September was busy. I didn't update at all. You'll all survive. Now on to October! Family! Marathon! Volleyball! Halloween! Woo! Par-tay!