Visiting a good friend for a cold February weekend in Scotland, I was 2 glasses of champagne down and it seemed like such a good idea at the time. "It's fun", I was told, "it will motivate you to get fit". So I signed up to take part in my first Tough Mudder on August 20.

Where I'm sitting right now I'm not sure that it was such a good idea, and actually, in the cold light of day, a "mind-bending combination of large grassy hills, dense dark forest and quicksand mud" over a 10-12 mile run with 20+ obstacles, isn't my idea of fun.

Still, here I am. Training has been sporadic - it's been difficult to fit it around work, childcare and travel - so I'm not feeling as well-prepared as I could be. As an additional motivation, I'll be using this challenge to raise money for Prospect Burma - an organisation that has been providing scholarships to enable Burmese students to study at universities outside of Burma for over 20 years. The exciting thing about PB's work, is that it really does make a big impact on the development of the country. 

Arguably, 2016 has has more than it's fair share of misery (Brexit, Trump, South China Sea Crisis...celebrity deaths...to name but a few), but in the midst of this all, Burma has been a good news story. For the first time in decades a democratically elected government, headed by Aung San Suu Kyi, is running the country. Many of Prospect Burma's alumni have taken up positions within Burma where they are able to support the democratic transition and to make a real impact on the country's development. Investment in higher education really works! 

So...please donate. Prospect Burma is an amazing charity, doing incredible things. If that's not motivation enough, I'm terrified and need all the moral support I can get!

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.