Megan and The Healing Coastline

carolineboxall
Oct 19
2 min read

I am equally proud of all my children. They are all brilliant, beautiful and, quite frankly, perfect.

With five, it can sometimes be difficult to ensure that each of them feels truly and equally valued. (The opening of this blog might help!) Today, I am focussing on just one of my children: my eldest daughter, Megan.

When I was expecting Megan, I was a teacher and yet, when my due date of 28th August was given, it took someone else to point out that she'd be disadvantaged as the youngest in the class. Megan must have overheard, because, even before she took her first breath, she showed an inner wisdom and sense of purpose, wisely holding on until 2nd September. She was the most precious thing in the whole world and I loved being with her so much I gave up work to be a full-time mum. In fact, she was so much fun, so inquisitive, perceptive, bright and bubbly, I wanted to have more of these little people around me. More and more.

Fast-forward thirty-three years and Megan has become the clever, fun, energetic young woman she always promised to be. At times, sadly, she doesn't see herself as such and, especially over the last year, has been through some very difficult and dark days.

However, earlier this year, she decided to pick herself up and set herself a challenge. Megan doesn't

do things by halves. She is possibly the most driven person I know (and I know some really driven people). She decided to follow in the footsteps of my brother Tom, and circumnavigate the coastline of Great Britain.

Except Megan isn't walking it, she's tackling one of the toughest endurance feats possible. She's running! Two hundred marathons in two hundred days.

Yesterday was a very special day for us as a family. Getting up at 5.30, we just about made it in time for her start at #sizewellparkrun after which she set off southwards to complete the first 26 miles of coastline (stopping off at strategic refreshment stops where her family were waiting to cheer her on!)

I like to think of myself as a writer, but Megan has a far more beautiful way with words. This is the first entry of her blog:

It is the 11 January 2025 and I am aware that on a day like today, I am pondering a run around the coastline of Britain through rose tinted spectacles.

We are on the Suffolk coast, where Shadow is helping me recover from a year which ended with a referral to the psychiatric crisis ward. I still have appointments in the diary during which doctors will attempt to understand what is wrong with my brain. But for now, we are in a place where we get to watch the sun rise over the sea every day and where we can run with uninterrupted views.

The coast is healing.

Which has got me thinking, what else can Britain’s coastline heal?