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 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 Obstacle Racing 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.