Eddie Izzard

In December I met Eddie Izzard, he had come to Dublin as part of his Stripped tour, my sister was on tour with him and arranged VIP passes for Fi and I. After the show we went back stage to the green room for a chat. In 2009 Eddie ran 43 Marathons in 51 days across the UK. I wanted to know more about what had inspired him to do this, he told me that it had been a ambition of his for about 7 years to do a long run and when I asked he said that he could remember the exact moment that inspired him to do it but then just smiled and didn’t elaborate, fair enough some memories are best when they are quietly treasured. It turned out that we had a bit in common when it came to running; both interested in history and actively think about the people who have travelled the path that we run on. This was very much the case when I ran the military road in Wicklow, for Eddie it was the time he ran along Hadrian’s Wall in Scotland. ‘Maybe the last time that someone had run 500 meters along that part of the wall it was a Roman when they were pulling out’ he said. Fair play I’ll see your British army and raise you one Roman Empire!
He also just likes to run his own race and he doesn’t enter organised events, rather preferring to get his gear on and get out and run 26.2 Miles on his own. As he put it ‘I don’t feel I have to wait for someone else to organise a run for me, I like to just go myself’. Which is pretty much my take on things too, although I would and have run an organised Marathon it’s a very different experience when it’s just you running on your own; no crowd to hand to sweets and cheer you on. Running Marathons on your own is a very personal challenge with personal discipline required to push you on.