The Road Not Taken – Robert Frost
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I marked the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
My Own Road Traveled
Robert Frost’s poem has resonated with me recently, I have been seemingly for months staring at this fork in the road agonizing about what path I should take. One direction is the known continuing on my career path in private education and the other path is the unknown, the gamble, obstacle racing and my blog. Well yesterday, I made the decision to take the road less traveled (after telling my family), I quit my job and will be solely focusing on Dirt In Your Skirt and Obstacle Racing.
In the last two years since finding obstacle racing and more importantly Spartan Race my life has gone into an overhaul. All the things I use to think were important just don’t seem as important now. For years, I did what I thought was expected of me, I was climbing up the corporate ladder in private education and found myself heading admissions for a school at a young age. To many I had carved out a nice niche for myself in the industry however as I rose in the ranks I found myself less satisfied personally. I loved the kids and the work was great, it just didn’t fill my inner desires. Then I found Spartan Race and through that I created Dirt In Your Skirt and that one decision changed everything.
Over the past year not only has obstacle racing exploded but so has my blog. I started the blog on a whim to hold myself accountable and today we are selling merchandise. As my work demanded more of me so did my blog, training, and writing. For the past couple of months I have found myself caught between the two worlds often working a twelve hour day at my day job then coming home to do another six plus hours of work for my blog often having to neglect my own training just to keep up with it all. At certain points it has been overwhelming and have struggled just to keep everything going. Over the last month it became apparent that I needed to make a decision.
The Death Race taught me one thing, follow your heart (literally and figuratively) and do what makes you happy. Weighing my options I choose to take the road less traveled and give obstacle racing and my blog a real shot.
Opportunities in life don’t happen very often and we have to grasp them. All the cosmos of the last couple of months have been pushing me in this direction. I have had several friends drop off the corporate grind in search of something real and the unknown. To them I have to give credit as making this decision easier. Add to that I have an incredible support system which is helping to make this dream a reality. When I hit send on the email containing my resignation I knew it was the risky but right move.
I am able to do this with the support of sponsors so by definition I believe I am the first professional female obstacle racer. I guess I have no excuse not to train now! In all seriousness, I am following a passion and for the first time in life I feel like I am taking control of my own destiny. I am definitely stepping off the hamster wheel. The final part of this change is after the Spartan Beast and Ultra Beast in Killington, Vermont I will finish this transition with a geographic change. In October, I will be leaving Vermont and heading west to the next adventure in Utah.
The future is wide open! Look for me to be at more races coming up as well as many new adventures as this new occupation I have chosen gives me flexibility to travel the country and globe exploring, conquering, and living life to it’s fullest.
you are so inspiring!!!! Right choice!!! Congrats!
AWESOME!! Good Luck & I can’t wait to see what happens- also YAY for the Utah move! It means your closer to the PNW- so maybe we will get a chance to meet you at a race.
Pure awesomeness.
I commend your decision to chase your dreams and grasp the opportunities in front of you. Too many of us leave our goals, dreams and ultimately our personal happiness by the wayside in exchange for the “safety” of our 9 to 5 jobs. I wish you the best in all your future endeavors and look forward to following your obstacle racing exploits.
love it. live it!!!
With parts of my life falling apart, the idea of change has me terrified. Your decision and seeing how happy it has made you gives me hope. For that I say thank you, congrats, and wishing you the best of luck.
Congrads…May your dream become a reality that you dont forget is a dream for many..
Vermont will miss u
Good luck Margaret,
We will miss you in Killington. I admire you for making such a bold move, that takes a enormous amount of confidence. I hope to see you before you make that move. I wish you well on your new life journey. You will be missed.
Good for you Margaret! You only go through this thing called life – ONE TIME- and you have to make it right for you. Wish you nothing but continued success and look forward to hearing about all about it!!
The greatest adventure race is that of your own life… taking on the different challenges and heading toward whatever comes next. I spent over 30 years in Television News and one day just decided it was time to move on… I didn’t know what I would be doing, but it was time. I had that good feeling in my heart. My life has been changed. I lost 90 lbs because I was able to prioritize my life. I became a personal trainer so I could make a difference in the lives of others, and then I found Spartan Races. You have so many people behind you. Live the Adventure!!!!
WOOT WOOT! This is so exciting! I love when people follow their dreams. Scary, exciting, all of it. WAY TO GO!!!
Awesome job. I have been following you for months from afar. I used to live in NH (spent a lot of time in VT) and now live in Santa Barbara, CA and work as a Strength and Conditioning Coach. I hope to see you at some races. Best of luck!
Having seen so many people I know pass at a young age and seeing many people I know sitting on their couches and not actively LIVING their lives, as well as personally making the decision to become more active, quit smoking, etc for my daughter and myself, I am so happy for you in your decision to take a chance and go for it. Honestly, I think you’re an incredible woman and you’ll be very successful and make a huge mark on the OCR world, as well as the world in general. Best of luck and wishes to you!!!! You will be missed in Vermont I’m sure, but I have a feeling a certain someone is very happy that you’re heading to Utah
Stay in touch (when you have time haha!).
Congratulations on taking this great step. While some of us are pushed to make changes you are taking the leap and inspire us all. You will do great and we will be there to cheer you on! Best of luck in all you do.
You continue to be an inspiration. You will not take this on alone, you have so many behind you cheering you on. Keep your confidence and faith. Go, girl, go!!
Excellent choice! The riskier choice is often the more rewarding choice.
Margaret. so you are ‘Dirt In your Skirt’ well girl congratulations in all you have achieved and all that’s ahead of you. You are inspirational and truly deserve success.
Warmest Wishes from Scotland where I have ‘Dirt in your kilt’ I’ll be proudly wearing mine in Wisconsin in September how does that sound as a good international strand to your company? LOL
Wishing you a great future x
M
Good for You ! ! !
Hope everything in UT works out well for you.
See you again Larry
I’m just about to turn 40 and the only things I have ever regretted are those that I didn’t do. Congrats on making the decision and best of luch in your endeavors. I’ve been sharing your blog wity my the ladies in my family and once my 15-month old begins to understand, I intend to share it with her as well. Thank you again for having the courage to do what you love, rather than doing what you think you have to.
Thumbs up for you, having the courage to follow your heart and passion!
Wishing you best of luck on you path.
I did my first ever Sparta n Race this year and it was amazing. I definitely have Spartan fever now. The Spartan chicked website brought me also to your blog and your journey. I have to say you are a personal ‘hero’ of mine and someone I greatly admire and look up to.
congratulations on follow your heart and your dreams. I am sure it will be scarey at first to move out of the 9-5 corporate life safety net, but well worth it in the end I am sure! good luck to you in the future and I will be continuing to follow your inspirational journey.
AROO
How wonderful! I wish you all the best. Yours was one of the first blogs I read when I discovered obstacle course racing. Your post on what to take/wear for a race is a post I have forwarded dozens of times.
Keep up the great work.
Sweetie you are one step closer to finding your true sense of self…..it is a rare gift that many women let go for a variety of reasons, and or find lat in their life….don’t waste time wrap your arms around her now and be a woman of greatness love you
You’re truly brave for choosing the road less traveled and I sincerely hope that it works out in your favor. It’s a blessing that you are in a position that enables you to follow your passions and I think it’s a position that everyone hopes to find themselves in some day. Best of luck!
I just started reading your blog again after some time off, and I gotta say, you’re doing a great job with it. Now I think you’ll do even better!
As someone of about the same age and stuck in a dead end job which I sometimes love and sometimes loathe, I am going through similar questions. I admire your courage for making the changes, leaving the familiar!
I’m working on similar changes now…expanding the friend base from the couch potatoes toward the active types, plus trying to find a place for myself since I’m not a good fit in my corporate career.
Great inspiration, keep it up! I hope to see the plans soon for your wall, I am going to build one too even though I know I will get a LOT of crap for it from my friends.