Back around 2018, after graduating from Stanford with a bachelor’s degree in product design but before she could pursue world-class track dominance, Valarie Allman had to make a choice. No pressure, right? Ha! This particular choice would only dictate her … ominous drumroll here … entire future.
While true, Allman had two options in the neighborhood of ideal. Microsoft had offered her a job. But if she turned the offer down, she could instead pursue her Olympic discus ambitions, which would mean much more risk and far less money, countered. Eventually, she decided that the more predictable path could be resumed later, while her athletic endeavors were limited by a host of factors. Among them: age, timing, windows of possibility and primes, training, potential, growth, even luck. Microsoft guaranteed not just employment but exactly the kind she wanted and worked toward. Track guaranteed her nothing more than a chance to realize her dream by throwing discuses in stadiums across the world.
Kirby Lee/USA TODAY Sports
