So I wanted a challenge. I wanted a reason to get my butt off the sofa and out of the door on long winter's evenings. I wanted to see how far I could push my not-as-young-as-it-used-to-be body. I wanted to see if I could do something that always seemed - since my earliest days watching the clowns and rhinos streaming down Jamaica Road from a stripey push-chair - way beyond anything a decidedly un-athletic person like me could ever hope to do.  

And I wanted to support the great charity that I work for. CIC does some really, really cool stuff. Particularly in the bit I work in: DR Congo and Burundi (no bias there!). We have been helping to bring about some really positive, transformational change in some of the most marginalised, conflict-affected, under-served parts of the world. And it's mostly thanks to the amazing local people we work with. People who really give a damn, who go to great lengths to make a difference despite the multiple challenges they face. People, incidentally, who do the equivalent of a marathon pretty much every week, working as they do in a remote place with no roads and very long distances!

The 22nd April is going to be tough. Quite possibly the toughest physical challenge I've ever undertaken. It is going to take me somewhere between 5 and 6 hours, so I'll be right at the back with the rhinos (or more likely they will have shot past in a cloud of dust.....!). But, barring a snapped hamstring or twisted ankle, I will get to the end even if I crawl the last bit!

Thank you so much for your support.