The Fellowship of Marathoners

A few years back some friends of mine told me about Eddie Izzard’s quest to run around the UK to raise money for Sport Relief. This 1100 mile adventure encompassed 43 marathons over 52 days. There was a 3-part documentary that eventually made its way onto YouTube. A decent short summary of what it entailed is archived over at the Guardian website.

I’ve always liked Eddie Izzard; funny guy. I once saw him do a weird stand-up show in LA; the 1st generation iPhone had just come out and inexplicably we spent maybe 10-15 minutes of his 84 minute set just ooohing and ahhhing over it, trading Apple hints and secrets. And then he did some bit about flies. Weird night but oddly fun.

That might sum up Eddie Izzard’s running challenges. They’re weird but oddly fun. Most recently, he’s just set out to run 27 straight days of marathons in Africa, one for each year Nelson Mandela was imprisoned. It’s again to raise money for Sport Relief and to highlight a lot of political and social issues. It’s a worthy cause but a bit weird — it is after all the end of summer where Eddie is running, meaning he’s facing 40+ degree Celsius temperatures most days. That’s 104 degrees+ Fahrenheit to us Americans. That’s a tough heat.

The BBC3 is posting daily updates on his progress, his setbacks, and hopefully his victories.

The most I’ve done in a row is 8 and a half marathons. In 2014 I did the Clam Chowdah Challenge up in Cape Cod, which consisted of a half marathon on Saturday and a full marathon on Sunday. I then hopped on a plane and flew a red eye to New Mexico where I did a week of marathons as part of a Day of the Dead marathon series. It was a surreal experience to be sure, but I found it imminently doable. Sure, sure. There were emotional and psychological breakdowns. The Day of the Dead series in particular was held on the same 1.33 mile out and back course every day. So loop after loop after loop each day was repeated then for 7 days. Surely you can understand that would make you loopy. Of course you do, and I shouldn’t call you Shirley.

But I was thinking about the road ahead for Eddie Izzard. He tried to do this a few years ago and the physical toll was too much. You have to listen to your body. So many things can go wrong physically, mentally, and emotionally on any given run and to set out to do consecutive runs is an exponential challenge. Again though, it’s doable. Moderation in all things, listening to the body, knowing when to slow and rest up a bit. It’s all the same sorts of things you do on any run… heck, it’s the same things you do in life to get through.

Psychologically the greatest challenge is that night before.  To have finished a run and to go to sleep knowing when the dawn comes you will run the same distance again — that’s a tough thing.  Some days are easier than others but over that a multiday stretch you’re bound to hit a psychological wall.  You’re bound to wake up and hum that Irving Berlin tune, “Oh, How I Hate to Get Up In the Morning.”  On top of that, you just physically break down at the thought of getting back out there on the road.  But just like in training days when you think in your best Dana Carvey as George HW Bush, “Not gonna do it,” those are the days you really, REALLY need to do it.  It’s overcoming the dissent, facing down the little doubting voice in your head, that enables you to not only carry on but to succeed.  That’s all “cat hanging by a thread” with the caption “Hang in there” motivational poster-ish, but cliches are cliches because they have a kernel of truth to them.

To be honest, I think the real trick of multi-day events is probably the nutritional challenges. Physically your body is going to do what it does. Emotionally there’s highs and lows. But everything sorts builds on the fuel in the tank as it were. To do multiday events or extra long endurance challenges, it becomes as much if not more of an eating challenge than anything else. You have to get enough calories and drink enough water to keep the proverbial furnaces working — both for the physical exertions and for the psychological mindset needed to keep going. And that’s not an easy thing to do. You’d think you could just eat whatever you want, whenever you want because you’re burning so many calories due to covering so much mileage. But there’s problems with that strategy. How will your stomach handle what your putting into your system? I for one can’t drink Gatorade or Powerade or any of those energy drinks during my actual running; they just make me nauseous and sluggish and make everything feel worse. But after I finish running, I can pound a bottle of Powerade Zero no problem as I sometimes need to replenish those electrolytes, or as they say in Idiocracy (2006), “But Brawndo’s got what plants crave. It’s got electrolytes.”

There are times when you finish a run and want to eat everything in sight.  And there are times you finish when the mere thought of food turns your stomach.  It’s a delicate mysterious balancing act.  And while you can muddle through however you feel when you’ve finished a run, you need a strong plan of action if you’re going to get up the next day and run another marathon.  And Eddie Izzard is planning on doing that for 27 straight days, in extreme heat, in extreme conditions.  Perhaps not even the great Takeru Kobayashi could face such an eating challenge.

I hope Eddie Izzard does it.  Not only for the worthy cause of Sport Relief, but for himself.  Charitable acts are all well and good — truly, they raise awareness and garner some coins of the realm for needed research, assistance, projects, humanity (albeit I often wonder about overhead costs and the amount that actually GOES to doing good versus the amount that goes to facilitating the fundraising… but that’s the cynic in me).  But every charitable act has that small little selfish component — one perfectly captured by “The Money Song” from Avenue Q:

So give us your money!
Give us your money!
Give us your money!
When you help others,
You can’t help helping yourself!
When you help others,
You can’t help helping yourself!
Every time you
Do good deeds
You’re also serving
Your own needs.
When you help others,
You can’t help helping yourself!
When you give
To a worthy cause
You’ll feel as jolly
As Santa Clause.
When you help others,
You can’t
Help
Helping yourself!

For the record, I have no problem whatsoever with doing good to make yourself feel good; I fully support the notion of taking on challenges to hopefully bring awareness or attention to a cause.  But I’m human too and there are times when I feel overwhelmed — there’s always another worthy cause, another challenge, another mountain to climb.  But that doesn’t mean I’m not impressed or supportive.  I just sometimes need a break.  I can’t quite wrap my head around doing 27 days of marathons in Africa.  But I love that Eddie Izzard is doing it.  Good for you, Eddie.  Make it happen.  For all of us and hopefully for you.  You should be proud of this crazy plan.  And I think I may be donating to your cause here before too long.

Run, Eddie, Run!