From the Archive – July 2011.
Time has been sprinting past me over the last few months and I have felt more and more like the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland than ever (and in more ways than one).
The landscaping business has been busy (thankfully), the stone and slate engraving is getting busier (thankfully) and I have had some lovely commissions for engraving small memorial stones that can be left on the side of a footpath that had been a favourite walk of a loved one, I have recorded a couple of pieces from ‘the Tiny Holding’ for BBC Radio Wales, created a Labyrinth with the fabulous dowser John Flavell, been looking after my bees and also recently delivered 24 pet piglets … and I HAVE been endeavoring to keep up my ‘barefootin’. Though I must admit I have often been too tired to put one foot in front of the other – shodden or otherwise!
It’s been tough going at times and I must admit that I am no longer shoe-loose and fancy free for most of the time; whereas I had some lovely ‘spiritual’ experiences whilst unshodden the security of my steel toe capped boots has proved pretty essential over the last few months, given what I do on a daily basis!
However as I still have my barefoot 5K to run in September in Battersea Park. I have had to keep up some barefoot training. I have been out for walks as regularly as possible unshodden and mostly on tarmac as a more effective way to harden up the soles of my feet. Yogi the terrier-ist has become quite accustomed to our late night unshodden walks and even the odd unshodden run over the mountain road in the early hours of the morning. These runs are now going to have to become a little more frequent to be effective and to prevent blisters and sore feet in September. Now the 3 little pigs have farrowed, I am planning to run shoeless a little more often and maybe even do the odd ‘warm-up’ barefoot 5K or long walk beforehand (or before foot).
I apologise if you have popped in to see how I have been doing and wondered where I had tiptoed off to; it all started so well early in the year and I loved it … but now I’m back – barefoot training and blogging about it.
And if there is someone who is interested in sponsoring me to make barefootin’ a more regular occurrence in the future, let me know!
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