So we all crossed the finish line, well those who started! The rest cheered us from the pub. Yes, a bunch of us, very kindly sponsored by our clients hobbled across the finish line of the Crisis Square Mile run on Thursday evening. Here are some pictures to show the hardship, from limbering up in the taxi on the way to the start to reading the paper whilst running, we couldn’t resist! Thanks to everyone who sponsored us, we raised £425!

I completed Sussex Beacon half marathon on Sunday - with no end of performance stats to expose the part-time runner.

Runners’ bibs had a chip inside that triggered the timer as they went through the start and they were tagged by the timer at the finish for their time; others checked their times for each mile their watches (well, some did). Best of all, cutting edge runners had a chip in their trainers that provided real time data wirelessly to their i-pod.

Had I connected my i-pod, it might have provided these real time updates:

Through the start - 5,000 runners, families and photographers everywhere - very sunny after a freezing night

1 mile - moving up nicely, though overtaken by a basketball player with ball (get me) and worryingly, Spiderman, Batman and Robin without real running shoes on

3 miles - too easy - the feared London Road hill was just a mild slope

4 miles past the Grand Hotel - scene of last night’s fire and my interview with Red FM (Were there any flames? Well, no, actually); right hip starting to complain

5 miles - like the beach huts but there’s a lot of wood washed up on this beach; more families, children wobbling alarmingly on new bikes very near the runners

6 miles - left knee now complaining

7 miles - on the promenade - dying for an ice cream; I’m catching the sun now -am I really this slow?

9 miles - I can see the finish line below, only one more long loop round the Brighton marina development and we’re in

10.5 miles - that’s a cliff - we have to run over the top - before we even get to the marina

11 miles - top of the cliff … another photographer… raise knees and try not to look too washed out

12.5 miles - last water station; fantasising about ice cream now; slice of banana will have to do

Finish - manage token sprint but 2hrs 25mins? People do whole marathons in that time.

Monday: Amusing wait for time to be published online, and, of course, all those photographs