100 miles for 1,000 Smiles
Hi, my name is Michi and I've called Chiang Mai in northern Thailand my home for the past 13+ years. Recently, I've gotten into trail running exploring the mountains just 15-20 minutes from my front door usually with my dog Sonny in tow. From running a few kilometers on the treadmill at the gym a few years ago, I completed my first 100 km (62 mile) trail race last November and swore that that was as far as I wanted to go.
One year later, I somehow find myself facing a 164 km (102 miles) trail race with 8,200 meters (5 miles) of elevation gain. This translates to roughly 4 marathons back to back and climbing the 5th tallest mountain in the world (about 600 meters short of Everest) from sea level. It will be the most exhausting, painful, uncomfortable, and exhilarating 30-40 hours of my life, if I finish. Knowing how I felt after my 100 km race last year and adding another marathon and a half is terrifying. 
So now I need your help and support. I will definitely ask myself (repeatedly) why I signed up for something like this when I'm 20 hours in and my feet are blistered and sore and my inner thighs are chaffed to shreds. I will, at times, hate myself for wanting to achieve such an arbitrary milestone that has so little in the way of tangible rewards, but you can help to make it so much more!
Through my amazing wife Charlie's PhD research and her work with the Karen refugee population along the Thai/Burmese border, I've had an opportunity to get to know and gleam some of the hardships and resilience of the Karen people who have endured an ongoing civil war with the Burmese army which has displaced countless people. Along the Thai-Burmese border alone, there are an estimated 120,000 refugees spread across nine camps who have had to flee their homes. She has worked most closely within the Mae La refugee camp which was established in 1984 and is home to more than 37,000 people, some of whom have now lived their entire lives there under precarious conditions.
Within Mae La refugee camp, she has worked with the Shalom Arts and Leadership College (SALC) which offers 4 years of education and hope for a better future. With very limited resources, the SALC has managed to offer a wide range of university level courses to 200+ students who have gone to incredible lengths to seek an education.
With your help and support, I'd like to raise funds with my race to rebuild the women's bathroom which is in dire need of attention. There are currently three facilities, but two of them are out of service and on the border of collapse. These also serve as the washing/bathing facility for the female students. The exact costs are difficult to calculate as the cost of getting supplies into the camp can fluctuate. The ambitious goal however will also allow us to support other projects in consultation with local leaders and stake holders to have the biggest sustainable impact with any excess funds. Depending on how much is raised, we hope to also upgrade the library, improve the computer room and support nutritional needs not met by the rations. 
Even if you are not able to contribute financially, I truly appreciate you having read this far and hope you can send some positive vibes my way, and perhaps dig a bit deeper into the plight of the displaced Karen people and other ethnic minorities in the ongoing situation in Burma. I've added a link below if you're interested in finding out more.
And of course, if you can share this page, that would be much appreciated! The race kicks off at 10 am on Friday November 9th (Thai Time) and I think they'll be a way to follow my progress live online as I go through checkpoints.
We promise to continue to update this page regularly as the project progresses. Charlie (my wife), Sonny (our dog) and Blossom (our cat) and I thank you! 
Practicalities:
As many of the residents of the camp are stateless and setting down permanents roots in Thailand is actively discouraged, sending money directly to the school is a challenge. For the funds raised here, it will be deposited into my personal bank account initially. With coordination and help from the leaders of the school and cooperation from the camp leaders, Charlie and I will be responsible for ensuring the funds are used appropriately and effectively. Charlie will continue to visit the camp regularly and we will do our utmost to be transparent and communicative as the funds are spent with updates on this page.
Finally, I promise I will do my very best to complete the race. In fact, I will use both your good will and expectations to push me through my lowest points. That said, running 100 miles over mountains is a hugely challenging task and there are many unpredictable factors that could stop me from achieving my goal. If that were to happen, we would still go ahead and use any donations collected to go towards helping SALC build new women's bathrooms with remaining funds supporting other projects in the refugee camp.
However, failure should not be rewarded. If I do not cross the finish line in under 48 hours (the cut off time), I will shave my head in restitution and post a video online. You win either way!
Links with more information:
On the situation on the border: https://www.theborderconsortium.org/where-we-work/camps-in-thailand/mae-la
On the race itself: https://www.pyt.run/ or https://www.facebook.com/PYT.run/
