A quick, fun reflection of all the M25 team got up to this year.
This year was one of busiest and biggest yet. In addition to all things M25 that we accomplished this year (see our M25 2023: Year in Review blog), the team has filled their free time by jamming to favorite tunes, drinking copious amounts of coffee and getting active by running across cities—among other things. We’ve collected data from each team member to showcase what everyone has been up to this year.
M25 Team on the Map
The M25 team traveled across the Midwest this year for both work and leisure. We tracked everyone’s activity through the region and combined it here in map form. Indiana was the big winner for the team in 2023. This year, we also tracked the number of Midwest states that each team member visited. Victor took first place with a total of 12 states while Abhinaya and Leandro were tied for second with nine total states.
M25 Team 2023 Data Visualization
We asked everyone on the team to share some personal data from this year. Find each team member’s year in review below!
Victor is on track to surpass 2,000 running miles this year. He has progressed in his goal to run all the streets of Chicago, ~25% of the way through now, finishing 11 more neighborhoods (13 total, including Woodlawn, Greater Grand Crossing, tiny little Burnside and the delightfully unique East Side). In addition, he increased his annual swimming yards to 106,175—85% in open water! (Special shoutout to Pat Cerone for kayaking next to him for the second year in a row during a swim 2 miles out and 2 miles back to the 63rd Street Water intake crib.) Victor also tracked 468 miles biking this year (mostly commuting home from work on the Lakeshore Bike Path, but also occasionally mountain biking with his kids Big Marsh Park).
This year, Victor also really got into the asymmetric strategy board game Root, so much so that the friends he plays with now refer to him and his wife as the “Rootweins.”
“It has been really fun learning the different strategies of each faction — and of course we’ve been keeping stats. The most interesting has been the win percentages of the different factions across the 9 games in our series so far. Some factions are easier than others,” Victor said. 🐱🐦🦊🐭🐰🦝🦎🦦
Mike dedicated more time in 2023 working on his golfing skills. He fit in 21 rounds of golf this year and his best score on 9 holes was 41! Mike shared some insight into his average shot distribution on 18 holes from the last five rounds of golf played.
Abhinaya had a big travel year in 2023. She landed in four continents and added three new countries to her repertoire: Japan, Kenya and Turkey. She also traveled across the Midwest and made it to both the east and west coast this year. Can’t wait to see where Abhinaya explores in 2024!
Katie joined a traditional German band in 2023 and frequented Oktoberfests and Christkindlmarkts across central Indiana with the 29-person ensemble. In addition to learning how to play the altohorn this year, Katie fell in love with the traditional accordion tune “Schneewalzer” and the contemporary Höhner bop “Viva Colonia.” There’s still time to catch the band at 2 more shows this year, but the band has high hopes for even more konzerts in 2024!
Leandro spent a lot of time this year tuning into his favorite music. Based on his Spotify Wrapped data, landed in the top 1% of listening to the MMA Hour podcast for a total of 17,014 minutes. Leandro’s top song, Ella Baila Sola, was on repeat this year, playing a total of 175 times throughout the year. He also learned that his music taste landed him in the Midwest: Columbus, OH.
Arianna shared some Spotify Wrapped data this year. After listening to 68,357 minutes of music this year, 8,013 different songs and 2,659 artists, her top artists included Demi Lovato, Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish and Rhianna. Arianna landed in the top 3% of all Spotify users this year!
Sam stayed caffeinated in 2023! While his total cups of coffee consumed varied day-to-day, he averaged four cups for nearly 100 days this year. There were only 14 days in 2023 that he went without any caffeine. Before the year is out, Sam has projected that he’ll consume a total of 1,412 cups of coffee—and is currently sitting at 1,328 cups as of December 11.
Ruth got back into reading this year and managed to read 11,673 pages. On the fitness front, she tracked and completed 430 different workouts on her Apple Watch, mixing things up between running, strength training, cycling, HIIT workouts, pilates and walks. Ruth has a penchant for finding a good cup of coffee or a nice cocktail. She added 377 new photos to her camera roll, mostly from snapping pics (in photoshoot fashion) whenever a pretty drink landed on the table.
She also shared some Spotify Wrapped stats in addition to a few other highlights from 2023. She listened to 55,105 minutes of music (~38 days straight) and learned her music taste is similar to those of the residents out in Boulder, CO.
