Author Archives: Nik Bronder

BTN BIG10K (5k)

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This weekend Julie and I ran our first 5K at the BTN Big10K which started at Soldier Field and ran along Lake Michigan. The run was difficult at the beginning with the large crowd but as it went on it became more manageable. I ended up finishing in 34:02 minutes and placing 943 out of 1769. By far the fastest I’ve ever run in my life without being chased.


After the run there was a tailgate setup with each of the BIG 10 schools having a tent with swag and a couple of football related events. I gave the Field Goal kick a try.

Side Notes:
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* The BIG 10 had three former athletes participate in the race: Ki-Jana Carter, Dhani Jones and Ron Dayne. Ki-Jana and I reminisced Central Ohio football.

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** I’m a big fan of people who wear shirts celebrating historical events.

A cruise on Lake Michigan

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This past Thursday Julie and I went on Time Out Chicago’s Summer on the Lake boat cruise of Lake Michigan.  We boarded the Shoreline Charters Evening Star at Navy Pier. The boat had an upper and lower deck and since there was a DJ upstairs and it looked like a storm was eminent we headed downstairs. Thankfully the food, drink and facilities were all downstairs (and it was Dance Party USA upstairs). The trip consisted of going down the entrance of the Chicago River and then back out onto Lake Michigan south towards Solider Field before turning north and going nearly up to North Avenue Beach. As you can see by the photographs above it looked like the sky would explode at any minute.

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We had a great view of some of the building that you don’t usually associate with the lake such as the Field Museum and The Adler Planetarium.

Side Notes:
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* A Pirate House Boat

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** Note the monogram.

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***The South Loop which is where I spend most of my day time.

**** Last years’ trip on Lake Michigan can be found here.

Ice Hockey Champions

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Friday night was my Bronze League hockey championship game at Twin Rinks. The league is setup that each captain can ‘franchise’ a core set of players and then everyone else goes back into a draft at the beginning of the season. This makes the league a friendly environment since you end up on all the teams over time. My team’s run through the playoffs consisted of playing against my last three teams as the fifth seed. We ended up rolling through all the games winning the championship 4-1. I scored the first two goals of the game, the first of which you can see the celebratory photograph above where I’m sitting on my ass. The goal was scored from that position.

As far as championships go this is the the only thing I’ve ever won in my life outside of a kickball all-star game which was more of an exhibition.  We had a hell of a team and were able to keep our offensive lines together for the duration of the season.  I’m a big fan of stability in recreational sports and I believe it made a difference.  All of our lines clicked and produced once we hit the playoffs.  With that and outstanding goaltending we were able to win it all.

And with this final run in Bronze I’m getting called up the Silver League.

Side Notes:
* The rest of the photographs from the game can be found here.