From a run to the O2
They say running is good for you, so I dutifully plod around my village a few times a week. I do it not just for the health benefits, but for the side benefits. I can eat the crips, chips and chocolate I’m addicted too without too much guilt. It wakes me up, so I’m more productive at my desk. And if I’ve got a particular problem to mull over – particularly a plot issue – it gives me time to think.
Last month, the run had an additional benefit. It led me to The Ultimate Christmas Party in the O2 last night, in aid of Children in Need. You see when I run, I listen to Chris Evans, and that particular day he was doing his Children in Need auctions. The more I heard him and his guests (Tom Odell and Rick Astley) wind us all up into a frenzy over the party, the faster I ran (okay, this is me, fast is relative) so that I could get home and make my bid for a pair of tickets.
And what a night it was. Chris was in fine form (as were Tom and Rick), the O2 was packed, and the audience rocking…well, as it was a radio 2 audience, it was more a polite shuffle.
What I enjoyed most about the evening though was that everyone was in such good spirits. I’ve never talked to so many strangers. From the kind lady who ran after us as we left the restaurant to give me the scarf I’d left behind, to the people in the queue having a laugh about which would be fastest, to the person behind me who moved further away from the stage so a family could sit together. To the lady who accidentally stepped on my husband’s foot and couldn’t have apologised more. There were only smiles. It made me proud to be a radio 2 listener. And that was before I considered how much money had been raised for Children in Need by everyone in the audience.
So I think the moral of the tale is that running is good for you. Not just for the heart, but sometimes for the soul.
And on that profound note, can I wish you all a very Happy Christmas, and may 2019 be a wonderful year for both your heart and your soul. But it may it also bring crisps, chips and chocolate 🙂