Eddie Izzard Runs 43 Marathons In 7 Weeks (VIDEO)

LONDON -- British standup comic Eddie Izzard has completed 43 marathons in seven weeks as part of a grueling charity run.

The 47-year-old performer finished his 1,100 mile (1,770 kilometer) odyssey across Britain on Tuesday when he staggered across the finish line at London's rain-soaked Trafalgar Square.

The cross-dressing comedian is better known for running through routines dressed in drag than running races, but Izzard says he managed the feat of endurance with only five weeks of training.

Izzard was running for the Sport Relief charity. A charity spokeswoman says he was followed by a BBC film crew the whole time.

After finishing his final marathon he told waiting journalists: "I feel dead."


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Comments

[brahdog]

wow, props, but i wonder what kind of damage he's doing to his body. also, run against traffic, not with.

[Fudgefase]

BBC have filmed the run - some videos on youtube. Eddie Iz running.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icuJxypTetg&feature=SeriesPlayList&p=EA7C785C0AADF44C

[TanzaniteDiamonds]

Fabulous. He even signed autographs too. That's our Eddie!!

[nickwebb]

My friend Jon and I ran the last 10 miles of this Eddie's final marathon.

Here are some videos of the run:
http://jaybyjayfresh.com/2009/09/16/a-short-jog-with-eddie-izzard/

Eddie was quite astounding in the 10 miles we ran with him. He directed the camera crew, navigated the route (with the help of two fantastic Virgin scouting bikes) and was running far faster than we were expecting - about 9 minute miles most of the way and 8 minute miles for the last couple. We were exhausted! It was fantastic!

Nick

[TanzaniteDiamonds]

Nick: What a fabulous experience for you! Thank you for sharing the link with us. Unfortunately, I cannot get the videos (yes, the ON switch is "on" my computer).

If by any chance, you've posted any of these on YouTube too, I'd love to see them. **smiles**

Congratulations to you and Eddie, both!

[TanzaniteDiamonds]

Oops...I'm sorry Nick, but I forgot to congratulate your friend, Jon, too (along with all of the others) who did this with Eddie. I truly hope Eddie gets more global recognition about this whole thing.

[jnthnlstr]

Hi!

The videos are on YouTube here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/jayfreshlondon

J.

[TanzaniteDiamonds]

Awwh..Eddie, you're the best! Now go home, and get some rest. Kick back with some "techno-joy". Go "access printer".

[Lex10]

Izzard the blizzard!

[idreamwideyed]

i absoluely adore eddie izzard

[PlanoBlue]

Jeezy Creezy!

[blackandintact]

As a person who has run 4 marathons and training for my 5th in November, I would summize that it is possible, but i would not like to see what his feet look like...ewwwwwwwwwww

That is an amazing feat.

[shubes61]

he put a pic of his feet up on twitpic... the toenails on his pinky toes fell off... not pretty.

[Rockwell]

Doesn't add up. His carcass would turn to blistered pulp at that pace. It's either a hoax or Eddie's definition of a marathon must be 26 yards instead of miles.

[Fudgefase]

Don't mock. He was followed just about all the way by local press and many punters who just turned out to run/jog/walk with him. Some of them took ten hours + to complete so no, he wasn't doing what a marathon runner would - but he was covering the distance. There was a crowd of people watched him go up Arthurs Seat in edinburgh and various tv programmes have featured his effort. Yes, his feet are a mess. I doubt he'll be able to fit his high heels for a while. But he started off slower and as he fittened up he got faster. His last one was just over 5 hours - so we're still not talking about a speed king. The point is - we can all do something extraordinary to help the poor all round the world if we really want to. He just happened to do it.

PS. I fully expect him to be quite ill shortly as the exhaustion hits his body and crashes his immune system.

[shanghaislim]

It would be extremely difficult to WALK 26 miles everyday for almost 2 months?

The stress in your body each day.....every day......day in and day out....no matter how slow he was running would be enormous. Never having an injury requiring a few days rest also is quite unbelievable in this feat?

It is possible, I am sure, but still seems rather unbelievable?

[Bartolo27]

Calm down. These were only one mile marathons.

[netzwerg]

Awesome record, but really unhealthy.

[LetsGetDumbAmerica]

What's even more amazing is he did the whole thing "COVERED IN BEES!"

Rest up Eddie........

[Mamabear]

nice one - one of my fav Eddie sketches!

[somechick]

So are you saying he was really following in his father's and grandfather's footsteps? ;)

[shanghaislim]

Wait.

43 Marathons in 49 days?

6 Marathons a week?

Love Eddie Izzard but something doesn't seem right?

I don't know if the top marathon runners in the world could even do that?

[B3ritney]

I know someone who was in his 20s, in great shape, who trained for two months before running a single marathon, and he was absolutely exhausted afterwards (and his feet were turned to pulp). I wonder if there is some sort of error in this newswire.

[tmaxPA]

The whole problem is calling these "marathons". A marathon is a race; Mr. Izzard was not competing. He ran 30 miles a day, six days a week, for seven weeks. An amazing feat of human endurance. But a confusing headline.

[dukeuch]

They were just taking a little poetic license with the fact that he was running about the distance of a marathon every day, not an actual race. Mazing, but not unbelievable

[malodorousgit]

Love Eddie Izard.

[firelord5000]

Amazing, though I'd think this would be pretty bad for his body as running that much in such a short span destroys a decent amount of muscles mas.