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Each new year used to bring another blog post where I summarized all the books I had read. From 2016 to 2020, I averaged 52 books reviewed per year. The memory is so distant that one of my college buddies has a wife who recently asked if I read a lot of books and I stuttered while answering the question.
I moved on to other hobbies, one of which crescendoed with me publishing my own book in February 2025. This was one of those “hard mode” life achievements for someone who is perpetually online, living life as if it’s an RPG with skill trees, leveling up, and high score tables. I grew up playing Runescape and I’ve been unable to divorce myself from the belief that I should always be chipping away at something.
Framed was a dud (also, the woman who asked me about reading obviously hadn’t read Chapter 7 in my book since I cover my Goodreads influencer attempt there). I wrote the book because I wanted to capture parts of the internet that I loved, that I hated, and that made me who I am today. This was an “inefficient” use of time, in the sense of how gamers allocate screen time, or perhaps even an “XP waste.” It defined my 2025, and the back half of 2024—and, to be honest, it’ll be the primary record of my life (alongside this blog and my Yelp reviews) if I die soon.
I recently saw a thread on Reddit asking about the parts of the legacy internet that people missed the most. Many of the suggestions were covered in my book. The top comment was, simply, blogs that weren’t painfully commercialized. Sorry for collecting email addresses and having Amazon affiliate links, but, come on, this website is about as close as we can get to the internet that we used to love! Why not journal about 2025 and let people just…find it?
What else happened in 2025?
Around the time I began accepting preorders for my book, I lost my job. The severance was reasonable, and being unemployed was freeing for the few weeks that I needed to crunch and finish the book. However, when I began looking for another job, the recruiting process was maddening. I had one recruiter reach out to me at 11pm one night proclaiming “Tim I love your book!” just to ghost me and waste four weeks of time with a few companies.
I ended up getting a job at Kalshi, which is widely considered the hottest startup in America (excluding the AI shops). The experience of working at Kalshi has been surreal, and it’s the most meaningful work I’ve done. I can’t believe how well things worked out. Yet, I wake up each morning with the fear that everything could be taken away. This is a strong motivator for me.
Working in a true 996, twelve-hour-per-day environment has drawbacks, but the mission means a lot to me. Really–a lot. Prediction markets must exist and I’m doing my part to set standards in compliance, reliability, and engineering culture.
Someone recently asked if I was going to write “the Kalshi book.” All signs point to the business’s story justifying a book, definitely before the end of the decade. This doesn’t really interest me, because I would never want my colleagues to have to pause and wonder if I was Michael Lewis-ing or Dan Lyons-ing them.
Friends started dying
Three of my friends died in 2025. One was a childhood friend and the son of my godfather. One was a college fraternity brother. One was a friend from middle school. In 2024, I lost a lifelong friend who was still sending me Runescape memes a week before he died.
I’ve written a fair share of obituaries and social media tributes, and I find solace in it. However, looking a grieving parent in the eyes and consoling them, especially when the circumstances are pretty much random, may be one of the most painful human interactions.
These deaths affected me, mainly because they weren’t fair, in small part because I’m now working at a company that purports to be a “truth machine” yet there is no answer to a mother’s pleading “Why?”
I sense a wave of nihilism sweeping over my friends, even these distinct friend groups, and perhaps over the country in general. Humor has become darker, self-expression has fundamentally changed, behaviors related to finance and “future stability” have become more reckless, as if that “future” isn’t being priced in at 100%.
I ran a fast marathon
I spent my early 20s eating a lot of food and never working out. During Covid, I started getting back into shape. As I wrote about previously, in 2023 I managed to break 2:00 for the 800m on the track. This was one of my life’s goals, and I accomplished it in my late twenties, largely coaching myself. I recently caught up with the man who coached me during my freshman year of high school, and he remarked: “This guy couldn’t break two minutes—in the 600!”
I had signed up for the NYC marathon in November because I had qualified with a 1:17 half marathon in November 2024. I also had some track races and a half marathon in March 2025 to look forward to. Unfortunately, I got the flu in early January and lost a week of training. When I tried to come back, my lungs didn’t feel right, so I took it very easy for a few weeks. Then, I focused on the book and lost my job in early Feb.
I ended up taking over 100 days off from running, missing all of the winter and spring races and not beginning again until April.
On April 18th, while at my parents’ house, I returned, saying:
“Bailed on track season to focus on some “life” things.
Although I finally published my book, I’m learning that the rest of the stuff can’t be solved by long hours and willpower.
While I can still dedicate long hours and still have the willpower, I’d like to start a marathon build.”
And, the next day:
“This was about what I would expect after 100 days off. At least I still know how to run. Going to focus more on consistency than mileage goals.”
That first week was 25 miles. The next was, miraculously, a 55er:
“Took 3 months off and managed to put together a 55 mile week. I feel slow but there’s no pain or soreness really. Going to run the mile this Friday, hoping to ease under 5:00.”
I felt decent that week, and also had at least 5 hours of cross training. The next week, things were pretty crazy. I hit 29s repeats for 200m without much issue. I declared that I’d only do HIIT work on the erg going forward: “Intervals, feeling decent. Never going back to the steady state grind on the skierg.” I also ran a 4:48 mile on the track, and somehow convinced a date to come and watch me (there was no second date).
The next week, I pushed a bit too hard, with back-to-back track workouts and a packed schedule that included cross training and 8 mile “easy” runs. Although I eventually pretty much dropped gym sessions, bike cross training, and track work, I continued increasing my mileage week over week.
As I continued improving, I decided to sign up for the Steamtown Marathon, which is a smaller marathon held a few weeks before New York, usually on the same day as the Chicago Marathon.
Even after I started my job at the end of June, I was able to keep increasing mileage until I had many weeks in the 80s and a few weeks in the 90s. In September, I hit a 100 mile week running singles!
In that writeup, I said: “Everything is balanced and I’m confident I can run 2:36.”
My final “indicator workout” for Steamtown came on the 20th, two weeks before the Steamtown Marathon. I ran a humongous progression around Central Park that ended up being 22 miles at 6:24 pace including warmup and cooldown. By that point, my easy runs were 14 miles each. That’s not a joke.
I didn’t taper at all and ended up running 2:36:36 at Steamtown. It wasn’t hard until the last few miles. I slowed a bit after my mom read the splits to me around mile 20, but still passed a few people to finish in 7th overall.
I took two days off and jumped back into training. My legs and lungs were extremely strong, but I could feel everything else lacking since I didn’t have the time for cross training or any time in the gym. I showed up for NYC aiming for 2:34 but I didn’t sleep at all the night before and so the race was a disaster.
2025 was the year where I realized that I had a genetic inclination toward endurance sports, but not necessarily the biomechanics to take it to an elite level. I made a lot of good friends and had fun training hard. I even broke my 5k PR several times, ending up around 16:34.
What about 2026?
I’m goal oriented. While many of my old friends are talking about starting families, I’m realizing how little time I have left to notch a major accomplishment.
My primary interest for 2026 is taking Kalshi through future rounds of funding and building an even stronger team there. I want to build expertise and have fun while continuing on this path.
Athletically, my focus for the early part of 2026 will be Hyrox. I’m planning on competing in the Open division of Hyrox Taipei at the end of February. Training is going well and I hope I can finish in under 60 minutes. This will be difficult.
On the writing front, I’m probably going to try some LinkedIn posting, since everyone is doing that now. As for books, I have some content for a book about being an amateur, unlikeable food critic. I’ve also thought about some works of fiction. At one point, I was recording an audiobook for Framed, but I don’t think I’ll ever finish it. The editing work is tedious.
Although I referred to nihilism above, my outlook for the year is bright. I work at a cool company, I live in the best city in the world, and I feel so fortunate to wake up every day and give it my best shot.
