Comments on: Eddie Iz Running

Eddie Iz Running

ColdChef — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 15:40:33 -0800

Eddie Izzard is one of The UK's most beloved comedians. He is not, however known for his athletic prowess. But that's all about to change, because Eddie's just completed a run - a very, very, VERY long run. 43 Marathons in 51 days for charity.

The secret does not lie in strict training. Where athletes devote a life to running and amateurs clear the diary for months before a race, Izzard admits to only five weeks of prep. He has run at least 27 miles a day, six days a week, over the past seven weeks, covering more than 1,110 miles of England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland.

By: Lou Stuells

Lou Stuells — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 15:42:01 -0800

But did he do it in heels?

By: Parasite Unseen

Parasite Unseen — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 15:44:05 -0800

He must get up very early in the morning.

By: ericb

ericb — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 15:46:51 -0800

I ♥ Eddie Izzard!

By: Pope Guilty

Pope Guilty — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 15:49:32 -0800

Goddamn. Good on him.

By: Riki tiki

Riki tiki — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 15:50:42 -0800

The relentless runners in life, the real Forrest Gumps, do exist. Take American He-man Dean Karnazes, a brawny type who brands himself Ultramarathon Man. Somehow I suspect brawny, American He-man Dean Karnazes wouldn't so much care for the label "the real Forrest Gump".

By: tula

tula — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 15:53:54 -0800

Wow. I loved him before, now I'm just in awe.

By: octothorpe

octothorpe — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 15:54:00 -0800

Damn. I've been thinking about doing my town's 1/2 marathon next year but wondered if I was too old and fat, what's my excuse for not doing it now?

By: Artw

Artw — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 15:54:25 -0800

I feel very tired.

By: filthy light thief

filthy light thief — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 15:56:07 -0800

Action transvestite indeed!

By: It's Raining Florence Henderson

It's Raining Florence Henderson — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 15:56:46 -0800

tl;dr(un)

By: louche mustachio

louche mustachio — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 15:57:40 -0800

Have finished my 43rd and last marathon. That's to all who supported and donated and ran. Now I can sleep Damn right you can, Eddie. The sleep of the just.

By: nowonmai

nowonmai — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 15:57:42 -0800

Took me a long time to convince myself this isn't a joke of some kind. Wow. Good job!

By: Mr. Bad Example

Mr. Bad Example — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:01:53 -0800

"I just ran 1,100 miles." "That's all very well, but...do you have a medal?"

By: The World Famous

The World Famous — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:05:52 -0800

It takes a lot to get me to want to go for a run. This makes me want to go for a run.

By: Solon and Thanks

Solon and Thanks — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:06:17 -0800

My mental image is of him doing this covered in bees. (AHHH I'm covered in bees!)

By: ColdChef

ColdChef — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:07:35 -0800

Cake or Death.

By: jammy

jammy — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:10:48 -0800

if only he had done it... COVERED IN BEES!!!! still, thanks for being way fucking cool, Eddie!

By: ColdChef

ColdChef — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:11:37 -0800

He even stopped to help tiny kittens.

By: mullingitover

mullingitover — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:12:13 -0800

Eddie Izzard did a great job with all the running, I'm really happy for him and Imma let him finish. But Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time! Of all time.

By: Who_Am_I

Who_Am_I — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:13:27 -0800

"That's all very well, but...do you have a medal?" No, but he does have a flag. Really. He says he started out running them in about 10 hours, and by the end he was doing them in about 5. You'd think you would get more worn out as you went along. But I guess he has always been into the running, jumping, climbing trees putting on makeup when you get there kinds of things.

By: jammy

jammy — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:13:54 -0800

oh... yes, well, i guess... Solon and Thanks already made that joke... thank you, bye

By: ColdChef

ColdChef — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:17:25 -0800

In case you're worried: his nipples are just fine, thank you.

By: dirigibleman

dirigibleman — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:18:17 -0800

At first glance, this act seems good. Unfortunately, as he was running, he hid berries where no one has seen them, so the evil cancels the good and makes it neutral.

By: gomichild

gomichild — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:21:33 -0800

What an awesome thing to have done!

By: mudpuppie

mudpuppie — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:21:38 -0800

EDDIE PLEASE DO NOT KILL YOURSELF RUNNING MARATHONS WE NEED YOU FULL STOP

By: mullingitover

mullingitover — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:21:59 -0800

Sorry for that earlier outburst--I've apologized for it in my blog.

By: Joey Michaels

Joey Michaels — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:24:24 -0800

Eddie, your participation in Mystery Men is now officially forgiven and forgotten.

By: dirigibleman

dirigibleman — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:24:51 -0800

Tank crossing?

By: Mr. Bad Example

Mr. Bad Example — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:26:48 -0800

He even stopped to help tiny kittens. Mrs. Example's reaction: "He rescued a kitten? During a marathon? He's a superhero!" I rescued a roadside kitten once, but my lazy ass drove her home in my car.

By: Kimothy

Kimothy — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:27:30 -0800

But... he's British.... Shouldn't he scale it down a bit?

By: nudar

nudar — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:28:23 -0800

By: EmpressCallipygos

EmpressCallipygos — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:29:07 -0800

Mr. Izzard: Marry me. That is all.

By: cjorgensen

cjorgensen — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:41:00 -0800

This is so cool.

By: nebulawindphone

nebulawindphone — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:43:39 -0800

Mr. Izzard: Marry me. That is all. Sorry. Called dibs already. DO NOT TELL ME I NEED TO PLANT A FLAG IN THAT MAN I WILL DO IT

By: Sys Rq

Sys Rq — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:45:39 -0800

If only The Riches were so long-running.

By: Blazecock Pileon

Blazecock Pileon — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:45:42 -0800

What Izzard hasn't told the press or anyone, except his closest confidants, is that as runners collapse on the side of the road next to him, he stops to collect their essence for his ceremonial trophy, before continuing on The Road.

By: Countess Elena

Countess Elena — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:47:36 -0800

Dammit Empress, all calling shotgun on my demands of marriage to Eddie Izzard! A note aside: Whenever I play Katamari Damacy games I can almost hear him reading the lines of the King of All Cosmos. Think about it and you will too.

By: elizardbits

elizardbits — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:58:06 -0800

Whenever I play Katamari Damacy games I can almost hear him reading the lines of the King of All Cosmos. Huh. Ever since I found out that the King is partially based on Freddie Mercury, I tend to imagine him singing all the lines. King Action Transvestite is not that far off, really.

By: The World Famous

The World Famous — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:59:51 -0800

as runners collapse on the side of the road next to him, he stops to collect their essence for his ceremonial trophy, before continuing on The Road. There can be only one.

By: Astro Zombie

Astro Zombie — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 17:06:56 -0800

Izard running a marathon is like you or I running two marathons, because he is tiny.

By: djgh

djgh — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 17:14:02 -0800

I stood next to Mr Izzard at an airport baggage carousel once. True story.

By: brundlefly

brundlefly — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 17:29:00 -0800

Eddie, your participation in Mystery Men is now officially forgiven and forgotten. I... I... I... don't know what to say to this... *points while screeching*

By: The corpse in the library

The corpse in the library — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 17:36:26 -0800

Countess Elena: "Whenever I play Katamari Damacy games I can almost hear him reading the lines of the King of All Cosmos." He's the voice of my GPS. My children are growing up with a very odd perspective on the world. Bear left!

By: ovvl

ovvl — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 17:36:56 -0800

Who else ran a marathon a day? Terry Fox.

By: Blazecock Pileon

Blazecock Pileon — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 17:38:44 -0800

*points while screeching* Just wait until you see The Avengers.

By: ersatzkat

ersatzkat — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 17:40:00 -0800

He tweeted some really gross pictures of pus-filled blistery toes. That's what made me finally donate, in hopes that he would NEVER DO THAT PICTURE POSTING THINGY OF GROSS DAMAGED TOES AGAIN THANK YOU!

By: ovvl

ovvl — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 17:44:52 -0800

Eddie iz also bi-lingual. Try doing stand-up in Paris as an Englishman speaking French. That takes verve.

By: Severian

Severian — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 17:53:28 -0800

I wonder how many dogs tried to ask him if he was happy with his wash as he ran by.... something to think about.

By: darkstar

darkstar — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 17:54:56 -0800

Eddie iz also bi-lingual. Oh, come on, already! Pick a team! (oh, and You Go, Eddie!)

By: Jon-o

Jon-o — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 17:57:19 -0800

Go, man, GO! I'm going, I'm going!

By: jessamyn

jessamyn — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 18:14:00 -0800

This is so terrific. I've been following this on and off all month. I'm going to go watch this video of his again.

By: Artw

Artw — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 18:19:30 -0800

Ah, come on. Mystery Men is fun, and it's not like he was horrible in it - it's not The Avengers.

By: XQUZYPHYR

XQUZYPHYR — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 18:25:12 -0800

covering more than 1,110 miles of England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland 1,100 miles in this day and age? I don't even know where I live now!

By: picea

picea — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 18:47:07 -0800

I've been following his pain on twitter. He's done a good thing, and I'd like to sponsor him, even if it's after the fact. Does anyone know if you can donate to his charity online if you're in the US? It seems set up for UK only, but I only managed a quick glance the other day.

By: thecaddy

thecaddy — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 19:15:31 -0800

This is because he was a very driven boy scout, you know. Driven everywhere, you know.

By: Dormant Gorilla

Dormant Gorilla — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 19:21:10 -0800

I can't come up with a fitting quote because I'm still hyperventilating because I saw this and thought it was an obit thread. God, Eddie. WALK for a while, okay? Take a cab. Take a horse! Don't do this to me.

By: Dormant Gorilla

Dormant Gorilla — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 19:21:52 -0800

...take an ark! You can hang your ears out the side. There.

By: Slack-a-gogo

Slack-a-gogo — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 19:41:31 -0800

I hate that the cynic in me read THREE articles before I was convinced that it wasn't a joke or some sort of media hoax. I love Eddie, and with hindsight, this sort of conviction and pushing what people think he is is EXACTLY in character, but it just seemed too weird to be true at first.

By: quin

quin — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 20:36:46 -0800

Fantastico.

By: Sys Rq

Sys Rq — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 20:44:57 -0800

What's especially amazing is that he ran all those marathons in JAM TROUSERS

By: middleclasstool

middleclasstool — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 20:46:56 -0800

I've been dealing with injuries ever since running my first marathon two years ago. And I trained for half a year for that fucking thing. I am in utter awe of this man. I loved him before, but I will fetch him his admittedly fabulous shoes on command after this. Cake or Death. I own that t-shirt, and my two-year-old son owns a shirt with bees on it that says COVERED IN BEES. I got them when we saw him live in Memphis awhile back. We will be wearing them tomorrow.

By: CunningLinguist

CunningLinguist — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 21:06:28 -0800

Now he should put his feet in a FUCK OFF BLOCK OF CONCRETE!

By: ColdChef

ColdChef — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 21:12:50 -0800

Video diary from BBC Three Fantastic!

By: ColdChef

ColdChef — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 21:13:57 -0800

Watching him run is physically painful to me. I can only imagine what it is to him. What the fuck made him think he could do this? And what the fuck allowed him to accomplish this?

By: naoko

naoko — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 21:14:51 -0800

1100 miles? That's like Poland, Czechoslovakia, Holland, Venezuela, Africa, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon...

By: ColdChef

ColdChef — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 21:37:41 -0800

Donation page is here. Works fine for residents of the US. £20 is about 33 bucks. That's less than a measly dollar per FREAKING MARATHON.

By: tzikeh

tzikeh — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 21:44:15 -0800

photo gallery of places and people along the way, including several photos of him standing by signs marking the town he was about to enter or exit. DAMN he looks good. Well, he always looks good, but he looks GREAT.

By: tzikeh

tzikeh — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 21:45:29 -0800

Wishing for that three-minute edit window: picture of the kitten he rescued.

By: Forktine

Forktine — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 21:49:02 -0800

According to an expert quoted in the BBC article: "Our bodies are designed to run because that's genetically how we developed - to catch food and avoid being someone else's food. We have enough body fat to sustain about 40 marathons." Wow. No wonder it's hard to lose weight by dropping in at the gym a few times a week -- a little bit of body fat goes a seriously long way.

By: bjork24

bjork24 — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 21:54:18 -0800

Le singe est sur le branche!

By: middleclasstool

middleclasstool — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 22:00:17 -0800

Watching him run is physically painful to me. I can tell you that even for someone who's done a few serious distance runs, running just one marathon usually involves at some point running through pain and exhaustion the likes of which you've never felt before outside of 26.2. Most marathoners will tell you: in terms of effort, the real halfway point of a mara is somewhere around mile 20. That's how hard that second "half" is, and he's technically been running ultramarathons this whole time. Six of them a week. For several weeks. That's how hardcore this is. If you've never done anything remotely like this and are in awe of him, I have to tell you this: It sounds like asshole bragging, but it's really true, you have not the slightest idea how monumental this challenge was for him. You are gawking at numbers and have zero reference for the pain and exhaustion he's endured. I have only the barest fraction of that reference and am damn near willing to bottom for the man out of sheer respect. He gutted out something most of us flat-out couldn't.

By: nowonmai

nowonmai — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 22:02:40 -0800

Kitty has a ginger fauxhawk. This whole business is increasingly preposterous.

By: ooga_booga

ooga_booga — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 22:45:22 -0800

Seconding what middleclasstool said. What makes this even more ridiculous is that he only prepared for a month to achieve what he did. He's apparently hurt an ankle, but aside from that seems to have escaped without any other injury which is even more impressive. This is a truly remarkable feat from a most unexpected corner.

By: empyrean

empyrean — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 23:07:12 -0800

That's astonishing... and even more astonishing is that somehow I overlooked Eddie on twitter, what the hell? Fixed. I kind of want him to stay in a hospital for the next six months, maybe the Mayo Clinic, where he can be watched by a team of doctors and fed liquids through a straw by a rotating cast of prostrate bi-annual half-marathon runners, all of whom are wearing t-shirts that say "I feel really bad for ever bragging."

By: MuffinMan

MuffinMan — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 00:22:19 -0800

Sport relief has some form in turning comedians into endurance athletes. In 2006, David Walliams (of Little Britain fame) swam the channel in the pretty quick time of 10 hours and 34 minutes. To put this in the context of the record time, it's like running the marathon in 3 hours.

By: minifigs

minifigs — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 00:44:10 -0800

empyrean: I kind of want him to stay in a hospital for the next six months" Unacceptable, I have tickets to see him in December and expect plenty of running-agony based humour.

By: Smedleyman

Smedleyman — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 01:23:39 -0800

Before each race, his feet are bandaged. He has lost toenails, and one ankle ligament is seriously sore. "My feet blistered up terribly, then started healing when I shoved them in surgical spirit," says Izzard. "Then they reblistered because you've got new skin coming through. "Blisters upon blisters are not very nice. It's the pain. Like the pain from mouth ulcers, it's not a massive area but sharp and quite agonising." Daily ice baths are a necessary evil, he says, "to stop your legs inflating to twice the size of an elephant". That'd sorta be why athletes devote more time to running and preparing, to avoid, y'know, agonizing pain and serious damage. To run the distance as a race. But I have to agree with middleclasstool, it's pretty astounding and a testament to how serious he was. Moreso that it's for charity. I really like his comedy, but I have to admire him more for this work. Guy could have just sat on his big mound o cash from the entertainment biz, but just said screw it, I'll lose a toenail if I have to. ...that said, it'd probably be a good idea for him to get some regular exercise to keep those benefits up.

By: stavrogin

stavrogin — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 01:50:27 -0800

Eddie Izzard is an African Kenyan!

By: asok

asok — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 02:54:42 -0800

There is a difference between health and fitness, which Eddie is currently demonstrating. He is fit, but not healthy. Maximum respect for this incredible achievement. Talk about going the extra mile!

By: slixtream

slixtream — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 03:01:20 -0800

The one day I was late for work and took the motorway was the one day he was running down the A48 in the morning. Gutted I missed him - but top work all the same!!!

By: newpotato

newpotato — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 03:02:20 -0800

Mr. Izzard: Marry me. That is all. Sorry. Called dibs already. DO NOT TELL ME I NEED TO PLANT A FLAG IN THAT MAN I WILL DO IT Fuck. Now why the hell did I ever assume that I was the only one that had a hot crush on this man?

By: cavalier

cavalier — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 05:03:39 -0800

Love him. Amazing feat. Throwing all my money at the donation page.

By: Forktine

Forktine — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 05:56:16 -0800

What makes this even more ridiculous is that he only prepared for a month to achieve what he did. He's apparently hurt an ankle, but aside from that seems to have escaped without any other injury which is even more impressive. Well, he prepared for five weeks or so, and then he started out by basically walking the "marathons." Ten hours to go 26 miles means you walked, slowly, and took plenty of breaks, or jogged very slowly and took much longer breaks. Any slightly fit person should be able to go out and amble all day on level ground -- that's not an amazing feat at all. Adding in progressively longer sections of jogging allowed his body to strengthen slowly in response to the demands placed on it; by the end he was running the whole thing in about five hours, which is a decent clip. So honestly I'm not surprised that he wasn't injured -- we have this weird belief that walking or running long distances is a spectacular feat reserved for the biomechanically elite, but really it's just what our bodies were meant to do. An article a while back about Laura Ingalls Wilder (the author of the Little House on the Prairie books) mentioned offhandedly that at one point her father walked three hundred miles to get to a farm labor job. That's what our bodies can do -- walk three hundred miles and then the next morning start in on some of the most backbreaking work imaginable. I couldn't run a marathon tomorrow if you paid me a million dollars -- I'm not that fit. But I could walk one, no problem, and if I kept walking them and adding in jogging I'd be running them soon enough. I think we don't give our bodies nearly enough credit for the amazing things of which they are capable.

By: Non-Prophet

Non-Prophet — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 06:20:15 -0800

An obvious attempt to be knighted.

By: ChurchHatesTucker

ChurchHatesTucker — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 07:40:34 -0800

Glad to see I'm not the only one who assumed this was some kind of joke that was only funny if you're British...

By: grubi

grubi — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 07:41:45 -0800

Amazing feat. Hey, you misspelled... oh, wait. Never mind.

By: middleclasstool

middleclasstool — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 07:50:15 -0800

Eddie Izzard is an African Kenyan! Heh. High praise indeed.

By: rmd1023

rmd1023 — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 08:11:21 -0800

EXECUTIVE MARATHON TRANSVESTITE. this is quite an impressive feat.

By: Zambrano

Zambrano — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 08:35:32 -0800

"Our bodies are designed to run because that's genetically how we developed - to catch food and avoid being someone else's food. We have enough body fat to sustain about 40 marathons." But we still somehow have "pain" because we didn't stretch today... lol

By: EmpressCallipygos

EmpressCallipygos — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 09:05:33 -0800

But we still somehow have "pain" because we didn't stretch today... lol And let me guess -- his toenails falling off were also "all in his head"?

By: middleclasstool

middleclasstool — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 09:13:02 -0800

The toenail thing's a swelling/shoe problem. When you run distance, your feet swell up, as much as a full size. If they're not constrained and are allowed to swell up, no problem. But we're not genetically developed to wear shoes all the time. When your feet swell up inside shoes, things get a little crampy and you can lose toenails. A lot of serious ultra runners actually have their nails surgically removed so they don't have to keep dealing with it. And then some of them do this (NSF the squeamish, seriously, it's kind of gross)

By: Shepherd

Shepherd — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 09:49:01 -0800

I got up this morning and really, really, really didn't to go for my morning run, but then Eddie Izzard leapt into my brain and said "I ran forty bazillion miles, you sod, so you can do one piddling 6K this morning. Cake or death!" So I did the morning run. And I didn't die, and I suspect I am slightly better for having done it. Thanks, Eddie.

By: fearfulsymmetry

fearfulsymmetry — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 14:37:32 -0800

Marathon man Eddie Izzard hints at plans to stand as MP

By: Space Kitty

Space Kitty — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 21:20:00 -0800

Donated! I've been devoted to Eddie Izzard since Glorious. I didn't think there was anything he could do to be more fabulous. Nicely done, sir!