Losing a shoe in the mud and finishing in one sock is a better story than any easy win.

The races people tell you about later are almost never the clean ones. Something going wrong and you carrying on anyway is what makes a day memorable, to you and to everyone who watched. A comfortable win is pleasant and forgettable, which is a strange thing to learn and a useful one.

Next time something goes wrong halfway through, keep going if it is safe to, even badly and even slowly. Finish in whatever state you are in. Afterwards, tell it as a story rather than an apology, because a story is what it actually is.