<html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div>This is amazing, good for him!!</div><div><br></div><div>Adam.</div><div><br></div><div>Source: <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8256589.stm">http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8256589.stm</a></div><div><br></div><div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><img alt="_46380745_lonelyeddierunner466.jpg" id="96ed23b6-4c3b-4f6e-bccc-3a2783fc3424" height="270" width="466" apple-width="yes" apple-height="yes" src="cid:3C068EF2-60C8-41B5-9E28-7C9CC29CF338@wetafx.co.nz"></div></div><div><br></div>Run, Izzard, run and run again<br>By Claire Heald <br>BBC News <div><br>It's the last leg of Eddie Izzard's 43 marathons in 51 days. How did the less than athletic comic pull off such a feat of endurance?<br><br>Running into London's Trafalgar Square on Tuesday, Eddie Izzard took the last of 1.6m steps, from the 43 marathons he has completed in 51 days.<br><br>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.<br><br>The aim - to raise what he calls, in classic whimsical Izzard style, "billions" for charity Sport Relief.<br><br>Just the one marathon race is enough for super-fit modern athletes, and the pinnacle of achievement for "fun runners". The suggested recovery time afterwards is two to three weeks.<br><br>It seemed impressive enough when hardened explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes ran seven marathons, in seven days, on seven continents in 2003.<br><br>So how has Izzard, a 47-year-old with no previous aspiration to emulate Paula Radcliffe, made it through so many since his first marathon in July?<br><br>And if he can run 43 marathons in a row, can it really be that difficult?<br><br>Absent toenails<br><br>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.<br><br>Indeed, during the course of his schedule he has demonstrated what sports scientists call a "training effect" - he has sped up instead of slowing down, from about 10 hours to just shy of five.<br><br>It's a positive, if unexpected, benefit of all the running.<br><br>Some nay-sayers wonder whether a 10-hour marathon really counts, arguing that it is little more than a lengthy sponsored walk.<br><br>And Izzard himself admits people no longer believe how many races he has run. "I might as well say I've just eaten a car."<br><br>But run them he has, despite the painful physical cost of the friction, the impact on his body, and the mental struggle to get up every day and run.<br><br>Before each race, his feet are bandaged. He has lost toenails, and one ankle ligament is seriously sore.<br><br>"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.<br><br>"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."<br><br>Daily ice baths are a necessary evil, he says, "to stop your legs inflating to twice the size of an elephant".<br><br>Body eats itself<br><br>And internally there is more, albeit temporary damage, says sports scientist Professor John Brewer, of the University of Bedfordshire.<br><br>With each run sapping about 3,000 calories, Izzard's body will be eating its own fat stores to keep going.<br><br>The force of four to five times his weight slamming through each foot, with every step he takes, takes its toll on muscles, tendons, ligaments.<br><br>Haemoglobin - the blood protein which carries oxygen around the body - will be broken down by the power of his own frame repeatedly crushing it in his feet.<br><br>So is completing these punishing runs miraculous?<br><br>It seems not.<br><br>"He should be commended for showing that anyone can unlock that running potential," says Prof Brewer.<br><br>"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."<br><br>“ I would definitely put him closer to the Kenyans than to the man in the diver's suit ” <br>Andy Dixon, Runner's World<br>Although it's better to build up slowly, Izzard will benefit from reshaped muscles, more efficient organs, and boosted blood vessels.<br><br>And expert commentators are impressed by his endurance.<br><br>"In terms of the sliding scale of marathon runners, I would definitely put him closer to the Kenyans than to the man in the diver's suit," says Andy Dixon, editor of the racer's bible Runner's World.<br><br>"Covering 26 miles in a day at whatever speed for 43 runs, it's demanding.<br><br>"A five-hour marathon is a fairly decent pace. It's a massive achievement. The big difference is raising yourself to do it again and again and again - physically and mentally. I can only imagine the suffering he's going through."<br><br>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.<br><br>For him, 50 marathons across 50 US states in 50 consecutive days, only to run back to the start, is a mere jog.<br><br>Perhaps the real surprise is that the British equivalent is a once well-upholstered comedian, and sometime wearer of heels.<br><br><br></div></body></html>