Failure Is an Option
On the Trail of the World’s Toughest Mountain Race
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Narrated by:
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Matt Whyman
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By:
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Matt Whyman
About this listen
"We’re not at parkrun any more," I mutter to myself, quietly longing for the presence of nice marshals in high-visibility vests.
Failure Is an Option is the story of an average runner who sets out to discover just how far he can go. With the support (and misgivings) of his family, and aware that his quickest years are behind him, Matt Whyman leaves the Saturday morning 5K to push towards 100-mile ultramarathons and beyond. By slowing things down to run a very long way, he joins a growing number of men and women from all walks of life striving to do something extraordinary.
A newcomer to a world that can often seem off-limits, Matt finds his feet as an ultrarunner by learning the hard way. He battles monster hallucinations on endurance races spanning day and night, loses himself on tantalising trails across landscapes far from home, and forges bonds with fellow competitors in which small, kind gestures mean more than any medal. Determined to touch the boundaries of his running world before it starts to shrink, ultimately Matt sets his sights on a six-day mountain ultra that even hardened veterans consider to be the most formidable on earth: the Dragon’s Back Race.
Brimming with good humour, honesty, and joy, Failure Is an Option pits ambition against ability to uncover human truths that resonate with us all. A mid-pack competitor who could win prizes for enthusiasm–if nothing else–Matt takes us on a journey far beyond his comfort zone and with no guaranteed outcome of success. The results are entertaining from start to finish, often very funny and at times deeply moving.
©2022 Matt Whyman (P)2022 Vertebrate PublishingListeners also enjoyed...
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Overall
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Three-time Ironman finisher Amy Snyder takes the wraps off the best kept secret in the sports world, the Race Across America (RAAM), a bicycle race like no other. Unlike its famous cousin the Tour de France, RAAM is much crazier, more gothic, and even savage: Once the gun goes off the clock doesn't stop, and the first rider to complete the prescribed 3,000-mile route is the victor. In Hell on Two Wheels, Snyder follows a group of athletes before, during, and after the 2009 RAAM.
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A documentary of the toughest bike race
- By James on 12-19-13
By: Amy Snyder
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Mud, Sweat, and Tears
- The Autobiography
- By: Bear Grylls
- Narrated by: Tom Patrick Stephens
- Length: 9 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Already a number-one London Sunday Times best seller, Mud, Sweat, and Tears is the adrenaline-fueled autobiography of the mega-popular star of the hit survival series Man vs. Wild, adventurer Bear Grylls. A former British Special Forces commando, a man who has always sought the ultimate in dangerous challenges, Bear's true story reads like an outdoors action-and-adventure novel. But Bear's story is true - full of breathtaking escapes and remarkable exploits that would make any Jack London or H. Ryder Haggard hero proud.
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Love this book
- By Aaron on 04-07-13
By: Bear Grylls
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The Tour According to G
- My Journey to the Yellow Jersey
- By: Geraint Thomas
- Narrated by: Dafydd Pritchard
- Length: 6 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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For years Geraint Thomas appeared blessed with extraordinary talent but jinxed at the greatest bike race in the world: twice an Olympic gold medallist on the track, Commonwealth champion, yet at the Tour de France a victim of crashes, bad luck and his willingness to sacrifice himself for his teammates. In the summer of 2018, that curse was blown away in spectacular fashion - from the cobbles of the north and the iconic mountain climbs of the Alps to the brutal slopes of the Pyrenees and, finally, the Champs-Elysees in Paris.
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Not a fan of GT but really enjoyed the book
- By Richy on 01-27-19
By: Geraint Thomas
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Running Like a Girl
- Notes on Learning to Run
- By: Alexandra Heminsley
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Sastre
- Length: 6 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Until five years ago, Alexandra Heminsley was decidedly not a runner. Nor was she athletic in any sense of the word. She was an ordinary, curvy woman who was convinced that sports of any kind, especially running, were beyond her. But she's made running part of her life, and gets to reap the rewards: not just the obvious things, like a touch of weight loss, health and glowing skin, but self-belief, and immeasurable daily pleasure.
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Meh... not what I thought...
- By Maria on 12-03-14
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The Electricity of Every Living Thing
- A Woman's Walk in the Wild to Find Her Way Home
- By: Katherine May
- Narrated by: Katherine May
- Length: 8 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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In anticipation of her 38th birthday, Katherine May set out to walk the 630-mile South West Coast Path. She wanted time alone, in nature, to understand why she had stopped coping with everyday life; why motherhood had been so overwhelming and isolating; and why the world felt full of expectations she couldn't meet. She was also reeling from a chance encounter with a voice on the radio that sparked her realisation that she might be autistic.
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Perfect!!!
- By Amazon Customer on 10-20-22
By: Katherine May
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The Road to Sparta
- Reliving the Ancient Battle and Epic Run That Inspired the World's Greatest Footrace
- By: Dean Karnazes
- Narrated by: Robert Fass
- Length: 8 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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In 490 BCE Pheidippides ran for 36 hours straight from Athens to Sparta to seek help in defending Athens from a Persian invasion in the Battle of Marathon. In doing so he saved the development of Western civilization and inspired the birth of the marathon as we know it. Even now, some 2,500 years later, that run stands enduringly as one of greatest physical accomplishments in the history of mankind.
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Repetitive, no depth
- By Miles on 06-12-17
By: Dean Karnazes
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Beyond Possible
- One Man, Fourteen Peaks, and the Mountaineering Achievement of a Lifetime
- By: Nims Purja
- Narrated by: Shridhar Solanki
- Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Nepali climber Nims Purja is the first man ever to summit all 14 of the world's 8,000-meter "Death Zone" peaks. He did so in less than seven months, breaking the previous record of seven years.
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5 stars for the achievement 3 stars for the book.
- By fostesa on 01-11-22
By: Nims Purja
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You Are an Ironman
- How Six Weekend Warriors Chased Their Dream of Finishing the World's Toughest Triathlon
- By: Jacques Steinberg
- Narrated by: Kirby Heyborne
- Length: 11 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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As he did so masterfully in his New York Times best seller The Gatekeepers, Jacques Steinberg creates a compelling portrait of people obsessed with reaching a life-defining goal. In this instance, the target is an Ironman triathlon---a 2.4-mile open-water swim followed by a 112-mile bike ride, then finally a 26-mile marathon run, all of which must be completed in no more than seventeen hours. Steinberg focuses not on the professional who live off the prize money and sponsorships, but on a handful of triathletes who regard the sport as a hobby.
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Eh
- By PS on 02-08-13
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The Pursuit of Endurance
- Harnessing the Record-Breaking Power of Strength and Resilience
- By: Jennifer Pharr Pharr Davis
- Narrated by: Jennifer Pharr Davis
- Length: 11 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Jennifer Pharr Davis, the former record holder of the FKT (or Fastest Known Time) on the Appalachian Trail, tells the story of her meteoric rise in the world of endurance hiking and, in doing so, unpacks key traits that make women uniquely suited to endurance. With a storyteller's ear for fascinating detail and description, she takes us with her as she sets the record on the Appalachian Trail and introduces us to the mentors who helped her to identify and unlock different facets of her endurance capabilities.
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Not uplifting
- By M on 05-15-18
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Short Fat Chick to Marathon Runner
- By: Kerre Woodham, Gareth Brown
- Narrated by: Kerre Woodham, Gareth Brown
- Length: 5 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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When celebrated radio personality and columnist Kerre Woodham found herself 40, overweight, and depressed she faced two choices - do nothing and probably not make it to 50 or do something and get her life back. Fortunately for all of us, and especially those women who like to eat and dress well, she decided to fight back. Leaving kilos of herself and two bra sizes behind 'somewhere in the Waitakeres', she embarked on a fitness and training regime, with a goal to complete the Auckland marathon.
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Inspiring, funny and informative
- By Michelle on 11-14-13
By: Kerre Woodham, and others
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I'll Push You
- A Journey of 500 Miles, Two Best Friends, and One Wheelchair
- By: Patrick Gray, Justin Skeesuck
- Narrated by: Patrick Gray, Justin Skeesuck
- Length: 6 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Meet Justin and Patrick. Born in the same hospital two days apart, they grew up together, faced life shoulder to shoulder, and were best man in each other's weddings. It was the way things had always been. It was the way things were always going to be. But then the unexpected struck - Justin was diagnosed with a progressive neuromuscular disease that robbed him of the use of his arms and legs. As Justin transitioned to life lived in a wheelchair, Patrick stayed by his side, and together they refused to give in to despair or physical limitations.
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Mixed Feelings!
- By Sharpie on 02-13-20
By: Patrick Gray, and others
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On the Nose
- A Lifelong Obsession with Yosemite's Most Iconic Climb
- By: Hans Florine, Jayme Moye
- Narrated by: Hans Florine
- Length: 5 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Hans Florine is a big-wall climbing legend in his own time. He holds the speed record on the Nose route of El Capitan, a 3,000-foot granite cliff in Yosemite Valley that's considered the Everest of the rock-climbing world. But Florine's story is not one of super-human athletic prowess; it's one of persistence and dogged determination. In 30 years of climbing, he's ascended the Nose a mind-blowing, death-defying 100 times, more than anyone else ever has, and most likely ever will. In On the Nose, Florine describes the most dangerous, pivotal, and inspirational of those climbs.
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Techno music?
- By Reviewer Al on 11-01-18
By: Hans Florine, and others