That Time Eddie Izzard Ran 838.4 Miles in 31 Days

If you’re scrolling through the articles in an average issue of Runner’s World, you expect to see stuff about the best shoes for trail runners, how to properly fuel up for your next 5K, and how to get past the point in a long run when you’re actively praying for death. You don’t expect to see an iconic stand-up comedian — unless that comic is Eddie Izzard. 

Last January, Izzard was featured in the magazine after she ran 32 marathons in 31 consecutive days, including an absolutely bonkers double-marathon on the final day. And, not content with banging out 26.2 treadmill-ed miles every day, she also interviewed other comedians or did stand-up sets as she ran because, as she told Runners World, “she [needed] the stimulus.” And on top of all of that, her efforts raised over £300,000 ($407,000) for various charities. 

“I am, as we British say, knackered, but I am OK,” she admitted to the CBC shortly after unlacing her kicks for the last time. “I mean, if you’re going to raise money, you’ve got to do something kind of audacious.”

This isn’t the first time that she’s pushed herself to complete month-long marathon challenges. In February 2020, she finished 28 straight marathons in 28 different European cities, and then added a 29th in London because the month had an extra day too. In 2016, she ran 27 marathons in 27 days to acknowledge the 27 years that Nelson Mandela spent in prison. (That involved finishing a 52.4 mile double-marathon on the final day too.) 

And all of this started in 2009, when she decided to run 43 marathons in 52 days to raise money for Sport Relief— despite only training for five weeks, and never having run more than five miles in one go. She told The Guardian that the hardest part was not being able to rest properly between long (long, long) runs. “If you imagine you drive in a tiny Mini across a wasteland where there is no petrol station and the petrol gauge is always on empty, that is me,” she said. “I put a little in every night and the needle moves and then the next day I’m below empty again.” 

Despite telling The Independent that she was “dead” after her 43rd marathon, she still shrugged off what she’d just accomplished. “I don’t think what I did is that amazing, anyone can do it,” she said. 

We’re not the first to say nah, not everyone. Not even close. 

This week’s Geeks Who Drink Virtual Pub Quiz featured a round inspired by Eddie’s “Cake or Death” bit. Take a peek here:

Back when the world shut down in 2020, we weren’t about to let that stop us from bringing you the best trivia in the business. Thus, the Geeks Who Drink Twitch Pub Quiz was born!

Since then, we’ve resumed our traditional live, in-venue pub quiz operations but we continue to bring you our virtual trivia via Twitch. And, you know, we’re not planning on stopping anytime soon.

If you aren’t able to make it to our pub quiz in person, you can catch our stream on the Geeks Who Drink Twitch channel every Monday night, LIVE, at 9PM ET. And, if you want to watch it a second time to make sure you remember all the answers, we add the recording of it to our YouTube channel on Thursdays. If you’re just finding out about this quiz now, you’re in luck! You have tons of past Twitch quizzes to go consume. What are you waiting for?

^{Featured image courtesy of: Giuseppe Sollazzo}