New Year - new target. As many of you will know, I faced unanticipated redundancy towards the end of 2016 - it was just a rubbish year in so many ways. My logical decision that week was to find a charity place in the London Marathon, for a charity that I really wanted to support. I knew that running would be good for me, and that I could do something to help a charity that I believed in.

Happily, Amnesty International gave me a place. I've been an Amnesty supporter since I was a teenager, so this decision was easy. 

I have to admit that when my school set up an Amnesty group in the late 1980s, I'd never heard of their work. Ours was the first school group that they established, and marked a time when they were keen to engage with a younger audience - letting them know about how powerful Amnesty's work could be. By writing a letter (long before email was a thing) to the right people, you could shine a light on the actions of people who were imprisoning, torturing and killing prisoners of conscience. Show them the world was watching when hundreds, even thousands of letters arrived, and many of those prisoners got quietly released back to their families. It was simple and very effective.

Clearly it took a rather extraordinary child at my school to have the vision to set up the group, and build the connection with the charity: my big sister, Maya. I'm very proud of her actions then (and always since) in focusing on the things that she can do to make a difference to individual lives. She's a lot to live up to, but a real inspiration. 

My membership of Amnesty lapsed during my university years, and it was about ten years ago, when I was studying law that I decided to rejoin. The time I spent learning about the vital protection that we all have in our legal system - the checks and balances, and the limitations of power - made me think again about people living where those protections don't exist. I've been a member ever since - and while in this day and age the actions are mainly by email rather than letter, it's such a worthwhile charity to support.

So that's my story. I'm so committed to getting to April and achieving this marathon run, and despite some time on the injury bench in December I'm back training and building up my miles to achieve my goal. Please do help me raise as much money as I can for this brilliant charity.

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.