On your marks, get set, go.

The good burghers of Alphabet Media rarely pass up on an opportunity for hard work or public humiliation - and in the case of the recent Nike 10k Human Race, we were able to combine the two.

I'd rather naively assumed that I'd be running in the midst of crowds of similarly out of condition mid-30 year olds, and so was rather unnerved to see myself surrounded by lithe early 20-somethings instead. As 12,000 youngsters limbered up excitedly around us, Patrick puffed on a couple of cigarettes to calm his nerves, and I considered whether I could be invalided out of the race with honour by feigning injury with a mock fall somewhere along the route.

Our race times:

Amos  -  58 minutes, 9 seconds

J1  -  62 minutes, 4 seconds*

Captain  -  76 minutes, 9 seconds

Patrick  -  89 minutes, 44 seconds

Katrina  -  97 minutes, 18 seconds

Kelly  -  97 minutes, 18 seconds

*For the record, I nicked into the Penny Black for a few minutes halfway through the race, and as I later discovered was running with a cracked rib ... but next time I shall prevail!  ;-)

As we posed for the obligatory pre-run photo, I wasn't sure whether red was really our colour - but fast-forward a couple of hours to sweaty, heat exhaustion, and I think you'll agree that it matched our complexions perfectly. Anyone for the Standard Chartered Marathon??!!