Megan Boxall: How one woman's record-breaking run round Britain was inspired by the Samaritans
From Running Tales by Michelle and Craig Lewis
May 25, 2026 · 46 min · Episode 211
About this episode
Megan Boxall shares her inspiring journey of breaking a running record around Britain while overcoming personal challenges and supporting the Samaritans.
Megan Boxall's running journey has a variety of starting points. In many ways, it started when she took up the sport as a youngster, going on to complete several marathons and triathlons. Others may argue that it really began in October last year when she set out on a trip that was to take in the entire coastline of Britain, covering 5,240 miles. Or perhaps its origin was the moment when a desperate and depressed Megan rang the Samaritans. Wherever you draw your line in the sand, Megan's is an almost unbelievable story of triumph over adversity as she embraced positivity to conquer bad weather, nutritional challenges, and day after day of running to complete 200 marathons in 204 days around the edge of the country. Megan, who has multiple sclerosis, already had a sub-three hour, 30 minute marathon to her name when she decided to take on Elise Downing's coast-running record. The challenge was provoked partly by the achievements of her uncle, Tom, who had walked round the coastline in 2003, and by a desire to give back to the Samaritans, who she had called several times while at her lowest point. Along the way, Megan not only broke Elise's record and raised £67,000 (and rising) for…
People in this episode
Hosts: Michelle Lewis, Craig Lewis
Guest: Megan Boxall
Topics covered
- running
- mental health
- charity
- adversity
- marathon
- inspiration
Keywords
- Megan Boxall
- Samaritans
- running record
- mental health
- charity run
- marathon
- adversity
- inspiration
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Samaritans
Places: Britain
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