Ramble on, Rose.

This weekend was a big one for me, personally.

Saturday I turned 26. While I love a good party and understand how much fun birthdays can be, I prefer to downplay my own. Let's be real, there's not much I did to get there.

I lied. I'm actually 116!

But it was a pleasant day: I woke up with no alarm to a sunny day, danced around the house with my parents' pups, and had a wonderful homemade dinner with my mom, dad, and grandparents. I even celebrated from afar as my favorite city Siena had their own celebration!

Sunday, however, I woke up real early and was out the door by 7. My lovely Mom, my cheerleader in all things, joined me off of Main Street to see me off on another crazy challenge: my first triathlon!

The Ramblin' Rose event, a triathlon for women only, tours North Carolina through the race season annually. The first leg is a 225 yard swim, or 10 laps in the pool at the local YWCA. The wait to get to the pool was brutal but I was glad to meet some other participants to take out some of the pre-race jitters. I didn't practice in a traditional length pool so wasn't too sure how fast I was going into it, but ended up at my target.

Next up is the 8 mile bike course, which consisted of 2 laps of 4 miles each. This part was easily the most challenging, not only because I didn't train on the bike (I had to borrow one and got it too late), but also because of the brutal hills, which from observation I can say were horrible for everyone. The worst part was knowing what was coming the second time around. Then, on the big ascent for the second time, my chain came off the gears. After a pit stop, I finished it off the monster calling to mind all the things I lived through that I would qualify as worse than cycling up that hill two times.

Downhills were nice, but they seemed to disappear far too quickly. Yet I couldn't help but laugh, whizzing down the hill at a break neck speed, that in the cemetery I already passed several times, there was a headstone for a person named "Self." Ignoring the fact that I nearly face planted my dismount, I moved into my final transition. 

Finally, there's the 2 mile run. My calves were fairly tight when I moved into this phase (think: jelly legs). Knowing I was nearly at then end, I did my best to enjoy the final leg. But the whole time, there were strangers on the path with me being encouraging who I could encourage too. Half the beauty of this race is the feeling of "You go, girl!" that is inherent to it.

With a few days perspective, I'm honestly very proud.

I got through it all. I swam, biked, and ran the whole distance. Not one bit of slacking the whole time. I walked away that day sure I had given it all that I had. While I know I could've trained better, you can't always be 100% prepared. I'm happy with my performance and have plenty of room to improve.

But the race was full of all kinds of people, not just the typical athlete type. Some women were real athletes and there to compete, but it was inspiring to see so many people be active and doing something different. I hope they use this race as a portal for regular fitness in their lives.

Yet it wasn't just shapes and sizes that varied. The oldest competitor was 77 (!!!) and the youngest was 10. I met, befriended, and cheered on one girl, turning 11 in November, who originally planned to race with her mom. She did the whole thing on her own!

I spent much of the race looking around and imagining myself changing and meeting my own goals, both fitness and not, as I move into my 30s, as a professional, as a partner, and even at 77.

Here's to another year full of uphills and down, pit stops, friends, goals, and accomplishments! Thanks for being along for the ride.

On Getting Things Done and Being Good Enough

Lately I've been interning with the Career Services office at the master's program from which I just graduated. If you can put aside the laughable irony, it's been a pretty neat gig for someone looking for a full-time position. I sit through these sessions a year later, much more prepared to market myself and am reminded of the best lessons I was too scrambled to retain last year.

But let's be real here: the job search is a struggle. I've not met many people who really have fun finding a new job. I feel lucky to have been exposed to such wonderful services and people willing to help me along the way, but it still isn't easy.

After graduating from Meredith in 2010, I wasn't quite sure what I should be doing and where I was going. Plus things were still pretty rough in the job market. I felt like finding a job was a full-time job and I easily got exhausted and burnt out from all the work and, eventually, the rejections--or worse, the silence!

So when I eventually made it to Fuqua as a student, I stumbled into one of the greatest career search sessions that shook up things.

Steve Dalton, the current Program Director for Daytime MBA Career Services, showed up and convinced me that he gets it. From his work with other students struggling to do everything right and coming up short, he developed an easy to follow system that breaks down the biggest difficulties associated with finding a job: making a LAMP list.

LAMP is an acronym and the 4 steps of Dalton's system:

Step 1: List. List out companies you know of or come across where you're searching.
Step 2: Advocates/Alumni. Using LinkedIn, find people you know connected to your companies. The closer, the better.
Step 3: Motivation. How badly do you want to work for them?
Step 4: Position. Do they have any openings you could fill right now?

After Dalton's presentation, I bought his book The 2-Hour Job Search and read it over my winter break. Dalton takes all the uncertainty out of the job search and reminds you, it's just about getting things done and being good enough. When the recruiters and employers know you're there, it makes things easier on them. Their time is valuable so the less work they need to put into finding someone to join their team, the faster they can move on to other things.

Now that I'm working on my own LAMP list, I feel it's a whole lot easier to stay focused and to settle all the doubts.

Full disclosure: No one paid me for this post. I genuinely believe in and recommend Dalton's ideas and book. Need proof?

Finally excited to get back on the job search path thanks to @Dalton_Steve and his #2HJS! Thanks so much!
— Samantha Cibelli (@samanthacibelli) August 13, 2013