Every so often, due to no conscious planning on the part of the Racket editorial staff, a theme emerges among the week's stories.
Take this July 13–17, which could have been dubbed "niche hobbies week," during which we published profiles of a Minnesota-based yo-yo master, the Excalibur superfan who's ridden the rollercoaster more than 1,000 times this year, and the fella behind the hand-collaged posters for MPLS Piecycle Club.
And who can forget Sandwich Week?
This week's theme, if there was one, was one of failure. I failed to finish the Race Across Duluth, the mountain biking race I was looking forward to all summer. Contributor Patrick Strait failed to make the Minnesota Timberwolves. Martha Pietruszewski failed to find a week's worth of events that were really and truly free.
We told you about our failures, and now, we want to hear about yours. Did you ever spend months working towards a goal and ultimately not meeting it? How do you handle failure? What has it taught you?
As for me, I do not handle failure well, but I've spent the week meditating on a nugget of post-race wisdom from my pal Joel: "Someone once told me that having a few DNFs under your belt is just as important as having a bunch of wins and I chose to base my entire racing career around that advice." And I've been thinking about how good it'll feel to go back next year and finally lug my muddy, tired ass across the RAD finish line.
As always, feel free to ignore this prompt and talk about whatever you want. This is your Open Thread after all.
