Today we’d like to introduce you to Allison Macsas.
Hi Allison, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I became a runner as a teenager, competing and doing quite well at the high school and collegiate levels but with no real aspirations of pursuing it seriously after graduation. I moved to Austin in 2006 in pursuit of my first “real” job as a graphic designer, but quickly realized that the 9-5 world was not for me. That realization combined with an ongoing injury that kept me from doing the thing I loved most – running – resulted in what seemed like a crazy decision for my introverted self: I decided to move to Thailand to be an English teacher! My family did not travel and I hadn’t been exposed to much beyond the American south, but somewhere along the way I got the travel itch and had to go scratch it. So, at age 23 I sold what little I owned, packed a backpack and flew to SE Asia where I spent the next year teaching and later backpacking all over the region with my then-new boyfriend / now husband Gabe. It was the most pivotal, educational experience of my life, and we eventually returned to Austin with clear heads and a renewed idea of what we wanted out of life. Understanding that running was an important pillar for me, I took a job with Rogue Running to help out with their marketing, graphic design, coaching, events and whatever else popped up; not only did I get to surround myself with the community that I best connected with, but I also found that I loved the hustle of scrappy small business life. Soon afterward the owners founded Team Rogue Elite, a professional development run team, and I was offered a spot despite my less-than-professional level race results. I thrived as an underdog and quickly became a serious marathoner, putting in 100 mile weeks around my workdays and qualifying for the 2012 US Olympic Marathon Trials. After the Olympic Trials, Gabe and I took a vacation to Morocco where we mostly traveled around on our own.
A chance encounter led to two nights camping in the Sahara with a local guide named Hamid, and the campfire conversation turned to running at one point. We had an idea – what if we brought some Austin runners here for a whole week of running and traveling? It wasn’t a business plan so much as a fun, one-off trip idea, but we went home set upon making it happen. We stuck our half-baked idea – dubbed Rogue Expeditions – into a single Rogue Running newsletter and quickly had 22 runners register. It was real! Thanks in large part to Hamid and his logistical expertise, we took those 22 runners to Morocco in 2013, had an absolute blast and knew that we wanted to do it again the next year. A client on that trip connected us to a fellow Austinite who arranged safari tours in his home country of Kenya, and soon we were off to Kenya to plan a running trip. Things continued to build, word spread and by the end of 2014 we both decided to put all of our focus upon building Rogue Expeditions, our adventure travel company for runners. I continued to train and compete along the way, taking part in the 2016 and 2020 Olympic Marathon Trials and also winning the Austin Marathon twice, and today am a self-taught entrepreneur with a sustainable business that offers small-group running trips in ten different countries. I’ve managed to create what I dreamt of even as a recent graduate: a life spent exploring, building and connecting with people and places, where no two days are ever the same and where I rarely use the word “work” to describe what I do!
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
Most of the struggles along the way were the normal kind for a DIY small business – figuring out how to reach clients with no budget, how to protect intellectual property, just generally learning the ins and outs of running a business and of course handling the inevitable crises that pop up when organizing international adventure travel. On a personal level I would periodically struggle with burnout – trying to wear all the hats, build a business, guide trips overseas every month and train at a professional level at the same time – but that was all self-imposed and I could recognize that even when I was going through it. I wouldn’t say that I truly experienced struggle until COVID hit. 2020 was set to be the biggest year ever for Rogue Expeditions; we had sold out all of our trips for the year, were discussing our next hire and generally feeling really accomplished.
I actually tried to fly to Morocco on March 11 to guide three trips, but was turned around in Frankfurt as the first travel ban had been announced while I was in the air; since then it has been cancellation after cancellation and the business has been without income for over a year at this point. We did what small scrappy business people do – immediately stopped paying ourselves, cut off every expense possible, found other side hustles to help pay our personal bills and spent hours every day scanning news and government announcements from many different countries, trying to find a sign of hope. In some ways were lucky – as a tour operator we don’t have a physical location to maintain or inventory to manage – but the past year has still been a dark, surreal experience for us and for everyone we work with around the world. While I won’t truly be excited until we see consistent, reliable freedom of travel again, there is light on the horizon now and we’ve been happily overwhelmed at the pent-up demand for travel from within our community. We just need to ride it out a bit longer!
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Rogue Expeditions?
Rogue Expeditions is a boutique adventure travel company that creates run-centric vacations around the world. Our itineraries are designed to combine authentic, off-the-beaten-track travel experiences with organized, supported daily runs in unforgettable places, and to accommodate all levels. Our trips are expedition-style, traveling to different places throughout the week and ensuring an adventure that is jam-packed with a wide variety of routes, landscapes and experiences. Current destinations include Morocco, Kenya, Ireland, Patagonia, Slovenia & Croatia, South Africa, British Columbia, Lake Tahoe and Oregon. Runners can expect small groups, expert guides, unique, comfortable accommodation, amazing meals, daily run options to suit all levels and the opportunity to get up close and personal with the destination and its people.
Also, we spent the better part of the pandemic writing a book called “Venture.” It focuses upon our entrepreneurial journey (it all started with a chance encounter in Morocco!) intermixed with lots of great travel stories covering the adventures and misadventures of the past nine years. We’ll start taking pre-orders on May 1!
So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
Waking up every day excited about what’s ahead is of utmost importance to me. On a micro level that means designing my days around work that means something to me, never being “too busy” for friends and family and always, always making sure that I prioritize outdoor exercise or movement of some sort. On a macro level, that means having purposeful pursuits, consistently learning new things and figuring out a way to do the things that I want to do. None of us know how long we have on this planet and we don’t get a do-over, so I don’t intend to waste any of it. It’s a big beautiful world out there and I want to experience as much of it as I can!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.roguexpeditions.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/roguexpeditions
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/roguexpeditions
Image Credits
Jeff Genova Photography
