On Trying and Failing: The 12-Hour Walk

Last weekend I attempted the 12-hour walk. This is about like the name suggests, but both harder and easier.

Easier because there is no mileage requirement - literally you could go just half a mile…but you must go the full twelve hours (!) without music, podcasts, basically without your phone (though you have it with you for emergencies and the map), and critically… without other people. Or animals! Totally solo! 

This challenge had been kicking around in my noggin’ for a while, and finally a few months ago, I listened to the book. 

Now, one hopes that if an entire book was built around an idea, some inspiring shit has hopefully transpired to get the author there, but holy mackerel, this guy was no exception. Having burned his legs to charred smithereens and told he was never going to walk normally again (amongst other setbacks), he has gone on to win ironmans and set various world records. 

I had also been drawing recent inspiration from the mind-boggling cool Monet Izabeth, who in January 2026 was the first American woman to cross Antarctica to the south pole unsupported. 

February 7 was a “Global Walk” day - and Colin O’Brady - the creator of the 12-Hour Walk himself - also happened to be crossing Antarctica unsupported at the time, and would be on day 87 of his expedition. 

So anyhoo, given all this Antarctic crossing, it seemed extremely doable to rouse myself from the couch, despite it being winter, and give this a go from out my front door. Here’s what happened: 

I failed. 

Now, most folks reading this may recognize a challenge of this nature as more of a psychological one than a physical one. I mean, it’s both, but the reaction from my outdoorsy friends of ‘whaaat… no people, no MUSIC?!!’ really confirmed this. We have all walked for 12 hours in a day, and up incredibly steep and sometimes treacherous mountains, carrying (a lot! too much!) weight. 

But this is different. 

For me last Sunday, the challenge was definitely both physical and mental. I had been having some recent pain in my knee, which is a shitty way to start any big endeavor. Then about an hour and a half in, because I was walking all wonky due to the knee, I had a tumble, and fell… onto the same knee. Garrrr! 

And, the grey fog inversion layer that often covers the valley where I live in the winter is about the least inspiring weather ever, and truthfully, it’s not my favorite landscape to begin with. Everything started to look like how depression feels as I plodded along, cold, wondering what in the absolute f*&@ I was doing out there. 

The upside is that, from recent training with going phone-free for various lengths of time (36 hours over NYE! and 7pm-7am most days, this part wasn’t the worst. It took some getting used to, probably about 45 minutes or so, and then it got a little easier to wrap my mind around the no-distraction reality and settle into my own brain. 

I go into more detail here, with my little before and after videos, but basically four hours in, it started raining, my knee was hurting a lot, and being someone who (tries to) care about not ignoring stuff and then injuring themselves further (at least these days), I did turn back. Which means I walked almost thirteen miles and was out of the house for seven and a half hours. But. Not. Twelve. 

Hobbling back to my house, I could feel myself start to tumble down a big-time failure rabbit hole. “UGH! Maybe I could just circle my house for the next four hours, and if I get waaayyyyy too cold/wet I could go back in”. Or “HOLY SHIT Colin is LITERALLY SOLO IN ANTARCTICA right now. How can a fog/ rain/ sore knee combo do me in?!”. 

And thank god, or more likely, thank all the personal development work, I recognized these for what they were…. verrrrry silly ego-driven thoughts that echo the same old boring narrative of ‘you aren’t good enough’. 

And then I had such a lovely realization of clarity, that made me feel goofy and lighthearted and happy: that most people hadn’t tried something like a 12-Hour Walk that day. They might just be still sitting on their couches, distracting themselves with Netflix and Instagram, and wishing something cool would happen to them. 

It's in the trying. It’s in the striving. It’s in the taking of a chance. And SURPRISE! It’s OK TO FAIL. I’m not even going to try to sugarcoat the word ‘fail’ because I’d love to release the stigma from it. Maybe ‘failing forward’ makes people feel better, ok fine!   

One of the thinkers I follow has a fail spreadsheet, where he happily inputs all of his failures from the week: small, medium, and large. Because it means that he is reaching past his comfort zone. He posits that if you aren’t failing each week you aren’t really pushing yourself to do hard things. 

So, I am happy to fail. Because it means that I am also reaching. Trying. Challenging. Learning. 

To everyone out there - May you fail in heaps. Happy failing. Happy fails to you, my friend (like the song!). Fail with me? Let’s do it together. 

And. Am I going to try this challenge again and get those 12 hours under my belt?!! You bet your ass I am. 

P.S. I want to acknowledge my insane amount of privilege that walking for 12 hours straight is a recreational hobby, a challenge to overcome. Many people do not have this luxury. I recognize that.