‘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.
Author
Matt Whyman has written widely for all ages across a range of subjects - in fiction, advice and memoir. His adult books include Man or Mouse, Columbia Road, Oink! My Life With Minipigs (published in paperback as Pig in the Middle), and Walking with Sausage Dogs (Hodder). For teens, he is the award-winning author of titles including Superhuman, XY, XY:100, Boy Kills Man, The Wild (Hodder), the So Below trilogy, Inside the Cage, Goldstrike (Simon & Schuster), The Savages and American Savage (Hot Key Books) Matt has also written many books under different names. Notably, he serves as literary executive for the reclusive Romanian End Time theorist, folk tale scholar and Carnegie-nominated mystery writer, Lazlo Strangolov. Two children's novels by Lazlo have surfaced to date - Feather and Bone and Tooth and Claw (Walker). Co-writing with Michelle Misra, under the pen name of Jack Carson, Matt is responsible for the Battle Champions action series for younger readers (Simon & Schuster). A graduate from the University of East Anglia's MA in Creative Writing, Matt is often invited to teach the subject for writers of all ages. Recently, he has hosted workshops across Russia and the Middle East. He has also served on judging panels for the Costa Children's Book of the Year Award and the Booktrust Teenage Book Prize. In 1995, Matt became the first agony uncle for 19 magazine, and has subsequently written regular advice columns for B, Fox Kids, AOL UK and an 18 year residency at Bliss. Over the years he has co-presented a series of ITV's cult Saturday morning show, Love Bites, and a live weekly phone-in on LBC. He is currently resident agony uncle on BBC Radio 1's The Surgery and a relationship advisor for TheSite.org - the UK's leading advice and information resource for 16-25 year olds. Matt has written many national health awareness campaigns - for clients including BBC Radio 1, Brook Advisory, NSPCC, Macmillan and the Health Education Authority - as well as numerous articles and features for national newspapers and magazines. He has also fronted several long-running opinion pages for Eve and Marie Claire. Matt is married with four children, and lives in West Sussex, UK.
