Today was a new test. My first full day at work. I work on my own on Mondays so it was a case of I had to do everything even if it hurt 😂

Not wanting to bore you with the details of my day, but for those that don’t know me, I run a Doggy daycare. The carpark is gravel, small gravel that’s not too bad in parts. The dogs get out the van, do their business in the carpark, before we enter the fields.. It is easier to find the poop this way. However, this results in a long time on the gravel. It’s day one, I can handle it. The rest of the time is in the fields, which is luxury.

The worst part of my day was having to change the 2 poo bins. Two heavy black bags full of poop. Carrying these 2 bags across the carpark to the van was hell. That extra weight really made the gravel more difficult to navigate. But I did it. Very satisfying.

Another part of my job is to collect all the dogs from their houses, bring them to daycare and then take them home again at the end of the day. So this was my first day getting in and out of the van. Lots of different surfaces, from horrible tarmac, to nice tarmac, paving slabs, concrete, gravel.

My clients either think I’m crazy or amazing for doing what I am doing. Haha. And everyone says be careful you don’t step in poo!

Now I understand that stepping in dog poo is a high probability given my job, however in 8 years I think I’ve only stepped in poo 3-4 times with my shoes on. Being barefoot will make me even more mindful of my steps, so hopefully I can avoid the dreaded poop. If I do step in it though, no biggie, I just wash it off, easy.

The weirdest thing I found today was being in other people’s houses with barefeet. I think that’s going to take some getting used to. It’s like I’m not just popping in, I’ve made myself comfortable and I’m staying for dinner kind of feeling 😂.

By the end of the day, I’d walked on so much gravel I just couldn’t take it any longer. I can only describe it to the feeling I get when having a tattoo. The first 2 hours are easy, the next 2 hours are tough and then after 4 hours my body says nope, no more. That’s what my feet were like. And mentally I could not focus to make it comfortable any longer. So, I came up with a cheat that didn’t involve shoes. I placed the jigsaw puzzle mats on the floor and used them as stepping stones. Where there’s a will there’s a way 😁.

Luckily for me my pet sitting jobs had finished so I had a quiet night at home resting my feet. They felt like I had walked on a bed of nails..

Well I thought they had, until a flight was delayed so one last visit to be done. The air was cold and the grass was damp and cool, it was like heaven to my feet. Soft and soothing, it was like a natural spa. So healing and grounding. I was glad to be at this job to be stood on the grass as I have no grass at home.

It really helped after the day spent mostly on gravel and tarmac.

Totals steps 7002. I discovered today that my watch is very inaccurate, as I would be walking for ages and the step count wouldn’t move. No wonder I didn’t do very many. I spend all day walking at work, I should be doing double this at least. So I have invested in a new watch, which is arriving on Thursday. Currently have a suunto 9 peak pro but I’ve lost all faith in the brand as I’ve had nothing but issues with it. So I’m switching aliagence and going for a Garmin. Will be interesting to compare the difference.

Total monies donated today, £40 online, £20 cash.

Total raised so far £540 online, £30 cash.

Thank you everyone who has donated.

Here is the link

https://www.justgiving.com/page/barefootnic?utm_medium=FR&utm_source=CL&utm_campaign=015