Eddie Izzard: superhuman or what?

In speaking of IDS yesterday and Eddie Izzard today we go quite literally from the ridiculous to the sublime.

Yesterday in Johannesburg he completed a tally of 707 miles in 27 days, which included a double marathon on the final day because he was lazy enough to have a rest day early on in his "Mother of all Marathons". In so doing he raised £1.3 million for Sports Relief and demonstrated he is one of the most extraordinary sportsmen of all time.

But I do I fear for him. Human beings are simply not built for this kind of punishment.Remember the first guy to run a marathon in 490BC: he died. Since then we have learned how to train for this most extreme of human achievements and survive the experience, We have seen athletes perform the "Iron Man, where competitors must swim 2.4 miles, cycle 120 miles and finish off with a 26 mile run. We have even seen competitors run the Marathon des Sables, which involves running 251 km in the Moroccan desert over 6 days, with the last stage run over 57 miles. But even this jaw-dropping achievement pales into insignificance in the face of what Eddie has accomplished. But what of his knees, his ankles, his feet? Can they ever recover from such a pounding?

This surely is the ultimate example of what what a man can do with sheer will and determination. The other day I played table tennis for half an hour, then later walked for 8 miles involving a 400 metre ascent, and felt pretty good about myself. Now I feel like the laziest wimp alive. Damn you Izzard!