Recently I experienced some very challenging situations at home. It was during a severe weather storm that made me respond in a way that I hadn’t done since before I retired from the fire department. My spouse was out of state and we live in a rural community so I was pretty much on my own. In a period of about 18 hours we received 8-9” of rain, two thirds of our annual rain fall. There were several areas of our small ranch I observed early on that were beginning to show signs of potential flooding issues. I decided to go back in the house, put on additional rain gear and head back outside to tractor for the long haul that day was almost sure to be. Once in the house I discovered I had water inside and discovered the source was coming from a seam between the original foundation and an add on. I spent the next 17 hours water vacuuming about 1 gallon every two minutes. As the rain began to taper off around 2 am I was able to catch a few minutes of shuteye. As soon as daylight appeared I went outside to assess the damage. A retaining wall had collapsed moving water and dirt into the barn stalls. I was able to put down a cedar product that eliminated the sucking mud issues for the horse in the stall and provided him a “dry stall”. 

As I walked from the barn towards the guest house, I discovered I had exposed water and electric lines. I live in snow country and we had heavy snow predicted to start in a day. I knew that getting the lines covered up would become a priority. The guest house had been flooded and mud had barely made it into the house. Thankfully, the day before I had hastily placed sheets of wood around the structure prior to going inside with the intention of shoring it up better. That helped keep the 8” of mud from getting into the house. 

As I headed to the main house I could see I had the yellow flex line from the propane tank to the house exposed. All utilities lines must be a at least 14” below the surface of the ground. This would become my second priority after the other two lines were brought back in compliance. 

For the next two days, I moved dirt from the roadway back into the yard to protect the underground utilities. As the snow began to arrive I turned towards the guest house and prioritized what needed to be done to stop any further damage. The carpets, padding and drywall needed to be removed in that order. While undertaking the tasks at hand I began to reflect on how it reminded me of early in my career as a firefighter. There were fires that we didn’t have the luxury of additional resources and we would pretty much have to prioritize and take one thing on at a time until the fire was extinguished and overhaul was completed. The long tedious backbreaking hours were very similar to the days I had just experienced.

It was then I thought how it could apply to any adversity that physically and emotionally challenges us. If I had just allowed everything to overwhelm me I do not think I would have been able to handle the situation I had been handed. By breaking it down to manageable pieces I was able to rise to the challenge. As a runner, the same can be true for training and/or running a race. If you can break it in to digestible pieces, your body and your mind will be able to rise to the challenge. Learning ChiRunning is a tool that can help you accomplish these goals and allows you to take on adversity while being mindful in the moment. 

All of us are challenged at some point in our life.  It’s how you respond that builds character and allows you to rise to the challenge. As a fire captain whenever I arrived at a challenging call I would always take a deep breath in and mentally say to myself “Keep calm, prioritize, make a plan, reassess, and adjust as necessary.”

This mentality has also gotten me through some challenging runs and races. So, if adversity is knocking on your door remember to break it down into manageable pieces and readjust as needed. But don’t forget on occasion to turn around and acknowledge what you just overcame. You got this!