Let's Talk About Failure
'Athletes build up a memory bank of all the bad patches they have successfully navigated that they can draw on when things are difficult. Mental toughness is not just the willingness to face a challenge but also the belief that you can come out the other side. Coming through a lot of bad patches turns athletes into optimists.' ( Michael Stocks, One Track Mind: What Running 150 Miles in a Day Can Teach You About Life ). 'The "ultrarunning is ninety per cent mental" trope is [...] on my list of things that are bullshit.' ( Ally Beaven, Broken 2020: The Year Running Records Were Rewritten ). I could save us all an awful lot of time here and give you the Cliff Notes on this one: I tried to run 105 miles. It was very hot. I was exceptionally miserable and incredibly tired, so I went home. The end, But we all know I'm not going to miss an opportunity to talk about myself at length. It may, or may not bear some relevance to the actual race. I don't really &#