The FAIL list.

Inspired (?) by a post by an ultra-distance runner and a conversation I had, the idea is that for all the achievements that can be made, there's a wake of achievements that never happened or fails.  For every 15 minutes of fame, there's going to be 15 weeks of mediocracy and 15 hours of failure.   Some are total failures, some are missing targets.   And normally, they're never discussed or addressed.

If you are attempting and failing, you are learning.   So here is either a list of fails, or a list of learnings from over the years to show that you shouldn't be ashamed of traying and breaking.

Cycling

• 2013 London100 Sportive - hit the deck hard and pissed blood for a couple of weeks with damaged kidneys, damaged an arm after watch strap bust and put the fastening into my skin, broke various bits of bike kit.
• 2014ish, riding through the Peak District in bad weather and damaged lungs.  Ridden back to home, coughed up blood for a few days.
• 2022, 600km DIY training ride - after riding >500km and through the night, had to stop in a bus shelter miles from a train station feeling terrible.  Had to ring to get family to rescue me while I had a fever and fell asleep.  Then was ill for a couple of days.
• 2024 ride Notts-Skeg and back, after fighting wind and punctures, had to quit the route and head to Lincoln for a train as would have been home around 5am and supposed to be working the next day.
• 2017, LEL training using the Genesis and after 5 hrs of driving into winds and no sign of the weather stopping through the night, headed to Boston and got the last train home.
• 2017, LEL training 400km ride, reached Boston area and steerer tube snapped, bike broke and had to get the train home.
• 400km ride Notts, North Pennines, Leeds, Sheffield and back home, x2 defeated.   First time had to get to Penistone then Sheffield before last train home; second time got to Sheffield before failing and having to find the cheapest Premier Inn type room for the night after missing the last train and having to get first train back next morning.
• TransWales - near hyperthermia and exhaustion coming in through the South Wales valleys (still finished).
• TransEngland - Made a navigation error and missed a checkpoint!   Had to DQ myself and ride to the end.
• Fred Whitton - cycled the first 100km or so and started to feel feverish.  Dragged myself over the last passes and had a terrible time.  Completed.
• Fred Whitton training - headed out on a 200km >5000m climbing ride in the Peaks.  With 100km remaining, headwinds, sleet and bad weather I headed to get hot drinks and trying recover.  Didn't warm up, near hyperthermic and had to hide behind a wall while Anna drove out to rescue me.
• Turning up at events and finding I've not packed critical kit (shorts, helmet).
• LEL 2017, breathed in something triggering coughing fits, rupture lung lining, coughed up blood.  Swallowed too much, upset stomach and weird drinking leading to so nearly quitting.
• 2016 - cycling with wrong bike fit, over extending achilleas tendon and leading to tendinosis.
• Way back, hit a pothole, slid ~150m down the road and had a broken collar bone.

Fell races/runs/hikes

• 2023, timed out with Anna on the Fellsman Competition.
• 2022, Bullock Smithy event, navigation error and then time-out after missing checkpoint time cut.
• Ridges walk on Arran - left critical waterpoof layers in the car.   When the rains came across, had to shelter in a cave and wait for it to pass.

Kayaking accidents - 

• surfing sand dunes in South Wales, landed hard and compressed spine.
• playboating in Chester weir, pulled my shoulder out
• "Tame river" in North Wales leading to being pinned underwater under a tree and nearly drowning
• Various other accidents, incident and near misses.

I am sure there's a lot of more examples I needed to add from my past, and if I'm not adding more in the future, then I'm not learning.