Eddie Izzard: Marathon Man (2010) s01e02 Episode Script
Episode 2
This programme contains some strong language.
Eddie Izzard is an actor, comedian and also happens to be a transvestite.
He is definitely not an athlete.
But on July 27th, 2009 at 47 years of age, Eddie decided to go for a run, a very long run.
His aim, to cover over a thousand brutal miles around the United Kingdom, an incredible Sport Relief challenge.
I'm just some bozo who's saying, "Oh, I'm going to do this", and started running a couple of weeks ago.
I've run before mainly for buses.
He will run through England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland, a marathon a day, six days a week for eight weeks.
Trailed by his own ice cream van, he'll encourage the nation to donate and run with him.
I'm interested in people.
It's hopefully an adventure that can be fun.
But with little training, experience or preparation, this truly is a lunatic adventure.
If you carry on running, you might not even make it to the last day.
One man's mad struggle to run some of Britain's toughest terrain.
It's just me and my body and can I make it? And attempt something truly extraordinary.
11 days ago, Eddie Izzard set off from Trafalgar Square in an attempt to run 43 marathons through the four capitals of the United Kingdom in eight weeks.
Incredibly difficult challenge even for the most seasoned of ultra endurance runner.
Eddie Izzard isn't that.
Ex-Olympian, professor Greg White, had just five weeks to turn Eddie into an ultra marathon runner.
Followed by a small support team, and a film crew on a rickshaw, every moment of his challenge was recorded.
Let me shake your hand, because I think there's something wrong with you.
Thank you.
I did this to raise money for Sport Relief.
I did this because it was an epic, crazy adventure.
Running is just so simple.
It's just me.
It's just my body, and off we go.
His insane mission started in London and took him west into Wales.
After 100 miles, he suffered from torn, blistered feet.
At 150 miles and seven marathons, his body was ravaged by crippling injury.
Argh! But he kept on running, determined to get to his old childhood home, where his mum spent her last days.
After running over 250 miles, he tackled his toughest climb over a thousand foot ascent through the Brecon Beacons.
Maybe it starts here.
To complete ten gut-busting marathons in 11 days.
I am becoming this marathon man thing.
But unbelievably, he's still got 33 marathons and 900 miles to go.
It's 8am, and Eddie is warming up for his 11th marathon.
Word of his achievement is spreading, and a film crew have arrived for a live television interview.
I think running is very primal.
We used to hunt in this way slightly crazy, and my feet, as you can see, are sort of slightly disintegrating, but I'll make it because I'm determined.
Up here, I'm determined.
My body isn't determined, but my brain is.
Eddie is rising to the challenge for Sport Relief, helping raise money for charity projects in the UK and abroad.
So far, he's covered nearly 300 miles, arriving in Mid Wales, but he's still got 900 miles to go.
His route will take him north through Liverpool and into Scotland.
From there, he'll catch a ferry to Belfast, where he'll visit a Sport Relief project.
He'll then continue his mega marathon across Northern Ireland and finally run from Glasgow down to London.
My personal journey is to see the United Kingdom all the way around, because most people don't, and I'd already found it quite beautiful as a stand up to go and play places like Shetland, Orkney.
I find that interesting, and then to go and run there is great, and while I'm doing that, I can pick up on places that I have been in my childhood.
Eddie sets off on his 11th marathon.
He's focused on the next stage of his personal journey reaching the Lake District, 180 miles away, a place that had a profound effect on him when he holidayed there as a boy.
But after just half an hour, he pulls up in agony.
He said he was in so much pain as he was running down that first five miles.
He's usually really, really fresh, and he seems to have plenty of energy, but he's in pain, real pain.
Jo, his sports therapist, assesses the damage.
Argh! All right there, yeah? For the last week, Eddie has suffered from painful blisters, but a new problem is making the pain worse than ever.
The skin around the toe which has softened up and is a bit loose from where we treated the blisters, is flapping off and coming away.
There is like a crevice, almost like a hole, where the toenail's ready to come out of the bed.
Ai! Sorry.
If the toenail comes off, it will be too painful to run.
All right.
We just do what bandage it up again, and I'll do what I can.
Unless drastic action is taken, Eddie will struggle to run another 33 marathons to the finish, and even just making it to the Lake District, seven marathons away seems unlikely.
I thought they were healing up now.
This one's gone weird.
Remember just to walk if it gets too much.
All right.
I said to him if it gets really painful, then he needs to just walk.
Because he's stubborn, I'm not sure that he will do that.
But Eddie ignores Jo's pleas, preferring to keep running and dealing with the pain his own way.
I had a lot of pain this morning in my right foot.
And I took pain relievers.
Now I have no pain.
He's as high as a kite.
He hasn't got a clue where he is at the moment.
He's had four Nurofen.
He's all over the place.
Eddie sprints into his first town of the day.
His very own ice cream van is waiting, giving out free ice creams for Sport Relief donations.
I'm running all around the country.
If you can, sponsor me.
I'll give you ã50,000.
ã50,000, it's on television now.
The rest of your life, you'll be paying it off, kid.
Although Eddie is running freely, the painkillers are only masking the damage he is doing to his body, and seven hours into his marathon, Jo notices a deterioration in Eddie's feet.
I've taken some paracetamol, and I've shot heroin into my eyeball, and I don't care any more! For the nail, it's coming off.
It's almost off.
It really stinks.
It's disgusting.
The smell from that toe is not nice.
So I want to have a good look at that later.
Just one marathon is enough for most professional athletes, but Eddie, who has no running experience, completes 11 marathons in just 12 days.
Yay! 11.
He's taken back to his hotel to recover.
A doctor is called to assess his badly injured foot.
This is the good foot.
That looks pretty good.
Compared to what it was I mean, look at that one.
And then this is the bad.
Because the sheer force because every time you run, that sort of pushes against it.
He must be in pain all the time, and I know he's putting a very brave face on it.
Eddie has subjected his feet to over 300 miles of constant pounding, causing the skin on his toe to wear away.
Now he's in danger of losing the final remaining skin layers.
If that continues breaking down and then gets infected, the whole toe will become infected.
He might have to stop.
That will be a disaster.
The doctor advises a day of rest, but it's looking unlikely that he his feet will last 160 miles to the Lake District, let alone finish his Sport Relief journey around the UK.
A day off yesterday was a really good idea, actually, because it gave Eddie's feet a chance to heal.
Feeling refreshed after his day off and his toe partially healed, Eddie starts his 12th marathon at a blistering pace.
Despite his injuries, he's decided to try and set his fastest ever time.
All my marathons have been endurance.
None of them have been speed, and I'm playing around with an idea .
.
to try to get four hours a four-hour marathon.
If I can keep up an average of seven miles per hour, I can do a four-hour marathon.
Four hours to complete the 26.
2 miles of a marathon is a fast time only achieved by the top 30% of runners at the London Marathon.
Eddie's fastest time so far is eight hours.
I don't know whether the foot will hold out, my energy.
I don't know what'll happen.
Eddie's chosen a bad day to be running.
His route will take him on the A483, a popular route for speeding bikers with treacherous bends and blind spots.
It's one of the main routes through Wales.
There's no pavement.
It's two-way traffic.
So Eddie's going to have to be very vigilant.
He's set off today at an incredible pace, doing, you know, seven, eight, mile an hour, places he's sprinting on a road that is so incredibly dangerous.
I mean, there's little floral memorials as you go along where people have been killed on that road.
Look.
Flowers, someone died here.
To break four hours, Eddie has to negotiate each bend and just hope that by waving his flag and staying alert, he avoids being hit.
Well, I am very wary of these roads because when I stop to cross, I have to look back.
I'm getting casual sometimes.
Now, if I'm running on that side into the traffic, that's how it should be by the Highway Code because I can see everything coming down this side.
The trouble is, some bastards decide to overtake right at this point, so even just doing that could mean goodbye, forget it, you know, end of life.
But as time goes on, the traffic gets faster and heavier.
Without any pavement for safety, Eddie is running head on into the traffic.
Fucking hell! Jesus Christ! Did you see that car almost drive into me? Yeah.
We thought, was this our angle or something? Because it just looked like it went He came straight at me.
I started waving the flag.
I was waving the flag.
He went right by there.
Did you see that? Yeah.
Despite his close call, Eddie's determined to finish in under four hours.
Right now, he's on target to make it.
He even wants to test himself at two-hour world record pace.
Two hours is, you're keeping a constant average of just over 13 miles an hour.
Think of this, I'm doing 7.
4 an hour, so that's twice as fast as I'm going.
Let's try 13 miles an hour.
Speed up, Ted.
I'll show you what 13 feels like.
What have we got? What time? It has to take time for the satellites.
This is 12.
So it's about this thisfor two hours.
Bloody hell.
At this pace, Eddie's running out of energy and stops the support team for more fuel.
I did that burst of 13 miles an hour and thought, "That's a bit stupid.
" 13? Yeah, I wanted to show them what the Olympic pace is so I took it up to 13.
The team don't agree with Eddie's approach.
He's putting extra strain on his body that is still recovering from injury after running 11 marathons.
He's done all that sprinting.
He's been on the painkillers.
He's feeling great.
He's run off seven, eight miles an hour.
The painkillers are now wearing off two or three hours down the line.
I don't think it's a sensible thing to do.
Shit, shit, shit! Oh, fuck.
I think he's stupid! He's got a bloody injury to his foot, and now he wants to try to run a marathon in four hours, which is just bizarre, and now he's got a sore hip, and now he's got a sore knee all because he's running faster, and he's still got another ooh, five weeks to go.
In just four hours, Eddie has run 20 miles, but by running at this pace, he's now in agony.
Yeah, pain's just shoving me over to the other side, so ah! Bollocks! It felt good to be running.
Goddamn toe.
I could have made four hours.
Eddie endures a painful walk for the last few miles, eventually finishing his 12th marathon in a disappointing six hours.
Eddie's put his whole challenge in jeopardy by trying to run a fast time.
He now faces six consecutive marathons until his next day off in the Lake District, a place with strong childhood memories, so Eddie tries a different approach to rest his aching body and takes every opportunity to well, muck about.
For whatever reason, this is the border of Wales .
.
and the border of England.
Here in the middle in no-man's land.
There's no rules.
Throughout his journey, Eddie carries a flag of the country he runs through, and the flag ceremony is a big part of his adventure.
So now we say goodbye to the Welsh flag for ten miles and hello to the English flag, again, which has just been superglued back on.
ICE CREAM VAN JINGLE PLAYS Eddie takes all morning to reach his first town of the day.
Shut that bloody noise off! We have gone mad for Greensleeves.
And now he finds a spot of lunch.
Do you want a coffee? Can I eat in your shop? Yeah, coffee.
Yeah.
How do you want it? Can I have a skinny latte? Skinny latte coming up.
How many miles are you doing on your bike? This is my bike.
They're called legs.
I'm not on a bike.
How many are you going to do altogether? I'm going to do 40 marathons? Oh, my God! I'm going to run millions and zillions of miles.
Millions and zillions of miles! With the power of that ice cream! And whoosh! And now I go! Eddie leaves, full of good cheer and latte, but just a few miles up the road, his laid-back approach backfires.
Eddie's slipped on the pavement edge, coming perilously close to seriously injuring himself.
If I twist my ankle on this, that's the end of the whole fucking thing.
That was a wake-up call, as they say.
Here we go.
With another 820 miles of his challenge left, he tentatively runs on, needing some Dutch courage to steady the nerves.
One shot of vodka to Russia and Wales and England.
And everyone! 'I just want to keep going.
I'm a relentless idiot.
' Diolch yn fawr.
'And I'll do whatever I need to do to get around, to be as interesting 'as possible and to hopefully raise enough cash, do some good.
' Thank you very much.
What's your name? Angel.
Eddie realises that each step could be his last.
He remembers the importance of his Sport Relief mission to focus on running and generate support.
I'm a bit sweaty.
I don't care.
I don't care! Where are you running to? To Belfast.
Pardon? To Belfast.
You're running the Belfast? Really? Honestly? 'I like doing one thing that does several things.
' Health, raise money, make an adventure, maybe inspire a kid.
You'll be, like, one of those sporting heroes.
'Four or five things you can do with one thing' I love that, I just love that.
Running with the boys gives him a chance to feel young again.
He races them in a sprint to finish in ten hours, one of his slowest times.
But he doesn't care.
For the first time in ages, he seems unaffected by the effort.
They certainly killed me! You were really trying, as well, weren't you? I was really trying.
Who won, then? Who won? Did you win it? Eddie seems to be adjusting to the demands of his challenge.
Running at a slower pace has allowed his feet to heal.
Overnight, Eddie's feet have just it's just remarkable.
They were still quite sore, a little bit soft, especially that little toe, and this morning, they've just hardened up.
It's brilliant.
But he's still got 29 marathons to go.
To get through the impossible task, he's set himself the smaller goal of running 100 miles for a rest in the Lake District, a place he's been keen to revisit since his childhood.
Running on a day like this with a breeze This is the River Dee.
Up here around Chester, the rivers are alphabetical.
Back there in Wrexham, the River B, River C in between, River D, River E further up until you get to Shetland and where River Z is.
That's how we work it in the United Kingdom.
This is really nice.
I knew the sunshine would be here.
I brought it here in my ice cream van.
Enjoy the rest of the day.
I've arranged the weather to be good all day.
Leaving the picturesque setting of Chester behind, eight hours into his run, the landscape begins to change.
The countryside gives way to urban sprawl as Eddie approaches Merseyside.
You've got some company here, Eddie.
Want some help? Yeah.
Running? Yeah.
Come on, then.
Eddie's been spotted by local boys Chris and Ryan, who've been hanging around town all day.
You just come as far as you want to.
You don't have to come all the way.
Anything is helpful.
Eddie is running through Hooton, an area struggling in the recession.
For kids growing up around here, gang culture isn't easy to avoid.
There's nothing else to do, so it's like most kids turn to drinking and drugs, and it ends up with them doing coke and shit.
A couple of youth centres would be good.
It would probably stop, like, all the thefts and people getting jumped and stuff.
How does it make you feel, running like this? Tired! Tired, but I'm proud that I've lasted this long.
'Makes you feel like 15 minutes of fame.
' Yeah.
Everyone going past beeping because you're with someone famous.
Different to what we normally do.
I'll say that! Chris and Ryan keep pace with Eddie for six miles, a great achievement, and Eddie finishes his 14th marathon.
There we go.
Thank you.
Good luck to Eddie.
It's inspirational what he's doing, going across the country, and he's helping he's doing it for a good cause.
Eddie's completed 14 marathons in 16 days.
For his 15th, he's taking the most direct route to the Lake District.
He's already run five miles to the Mersey.
Now he has to take a ferry to cross it into Liverpool.
I'm playing there.
That's the arena.
A crowd has gathered.
News of Eddie's challenge is spreading.
Go, Eddie! Go, Eddie! Go, Eddie! Thank you.
It's great that you're here, and the amount of honking and waving I've had coming up through Birkenhead and going through Liverpool it's more than I have had so far, it's great.
If people just honk their horns, I just keep going.
CHEERING AND CLAPPING Cheers! Hi! I just think the word's out now.
I think we'll find as we go to bigger towns and cities that more people know.
TOOTING Skin scouser watch all your shows, all that lark.
Well done.
I watch you on the telly.
Well done as well.
Thanks, mate.
And you're right about Hunter Gatherer.
I know.
Well, I'm trying it out! Can I get a lift? There's a real buzz in Liverpool, and he seems to be attracting new fans.
This is my 15th marathon.
High five.
He's brilliant! We'll follow you as much as we can.
Oh, that's good.
Thank you.
These boys rarely leave Aintree on their own, but want to cycle with Eddie as far as they can.
I gave Eddie ã2 out of my dinner money because we don't need it as much as he needs it.
Thanks very much.
'When people came unexpectedly, that was the best thing, and the 'two kids who cycled with me, and they kept saying' they wanted to go further, they wanted to go all the way.
Their mum has said, "Yeah, it's fine as long as they're safe.
" We found two crash helmets.
We found two high vis jackets.
'That adventurer's spirit is great.
' That's what the country needs.
I just thought, "If I was a kid, I would have loved that.
" Dylan there is in a world of his own.
He's not even tired.
Are you getting tired? Yeah, I'm knackered.
We're only at 17 miles.
Just pretend there's a massive pepperoni pizza at the end.
This is the furthest I've ever been as well.
This is well the furthest.
I'm going to tell my mum tonight that it's well been the best day you could ever have.
Eddie finishes his 15th marathon, but the last nine miles were a real effort.
After 15 marathons in 17 days, Eddie's exhausted, and he's still got another three marathons before his one rest day at the Lake District.
He asks a nutritional expert to join him, hoping he can help him complete the remaining 28 marathons of his Sport Relief challenge.
The average meal of a sedentary person needs about 2,000 to 2,500 calories a day to survive.
Right.
So you're thinking you're burning 6,000, 7,000, then, yeah, you can eat quite a lot, but I never get bored of eating.
I'm not bored of potatoes.
Running on empty, the expert realises Eddie has no nutritional discipline, with ice cream his snack of choice.
Treats are there to be enjoyed, but when you're doing a challenge like this, then you've really got to look after your nutrition.
So far, in his mega marathon around the UK, Eddie has been eating ice cream 99s Statue of Liberty.
And ice lolly calypos when he's felt the need to.
Calypos are made out of calipers and hippos.
But due to the circumstances, other food supplements have been on hand.
I've got a secret stash of goods in the car that Eddie, you know, likes to dip into when nobody knows, like the nutritionists and everything.
And here is the secret stash of everything that is good for a runner.
These ones here have got breakfast cereal in them, so they're really, really good for you.
I'm not very strict at the moment.
I've sort of gone back to eating any old rubbish.
If you can really get the nutrition right, then the second half of this adventure around the UK will be a lot more pleasant.
After five hours, Eddie's left to run the marathon alone, and the scorching heat continues to sap his energy.
You know what this is? This is the fifth day in a row, yeah? It's just, I started on empty, and I've continued on empty, and then I think it's something to do with potatoes and Without a new high carbs diet, he's jeopardising getting to the Lake District and a chance to go back to the place from his childhood.
He eventually completes his 16th marathon in ten hours.
Back at the hotel, Peter joins him for dinner.
Eddie's desperate to eat anything that'll give him more energy.
He's got to refuel tonight so he can set on his way to the Lake District tomorrow morning.
Is this a double portion of potatoes? It is, sir.
If you eat all that, I'll be impressed, and tomorrow morning, you'll be fresh.
That is the most routined I've ever been.
Peter seems impressed as Eddie force feeds himself potato after potato.
He's done well there, a good plate full of food there, so I've got to go to bed right now because otherwise I'm going to throw up, actually.
I haven't eaten like this in After 20 potatoes, Eddie can barely move.
The following morning, nutrition is still Eddie's main concern.
I felt sick after eating the potatoes .
.
last night.
I've never been sick of potatoes.
Pete, the expert, was saying that people wake up in the morning and eat pasta and omelettes for breakfast.
Whee! I was eating so much food thatermI don't care about anything.
I'm just going to run.
Despite having a huge breakfast, Eddie figures by continuing to cram more food into himself, he'll get the kick start he needs.
Come on, Eddie! He stops at a burger van to refuel, which seems to be a local hang out.
You look knackered! Come on.
Come on.
You have to make it flutter.
Eddie, how you doing, mate? All right.
Well done, fella.
Well done, Eddie.
Cheers, mate.
Well done.
Nice legs, by the way.
Ah, yes.
They were crafted.
I'm not moving from here.
Stopping gives Alfie the chance to confront Eddie, as he disagrees with his new diet of overeating.
There's something to be said, though, for eating late at night, eating big meals late at night.
Good or bad? It's bad, because it keeps your body awake digesting it, so your body is knackered through digesting all that food.
What's the answer, then? Six o'clock.
No carbohydrates after six o'clock.
I hear you, but I can't get them into me at 6pm if I'm still running.
There lies the dilemma.
There lies the dilemma.
TOOTING Eddie prefers to do it his way and keep refuelling.
Soon, the conversation takes on a more sensitive nature.
Can I ask you a personal question? Was it so you could get on in the business or just something you? What, make up? No, I am a transvestite.
I was born a transvestite.
I knew when I was four, four or five.
Seriously? Yeah, yeah.
I do believe that gay people, lesbian people, trans-gender people, it's built in.
Who would choose this? I'm a straight transvestite.
So I fancy women, and you wouldn't choose the extra bit, all the fights and stuff, people screaming at you and abuse.
Why would you choose that for "I think it's quite fun if I go and put on make-up.
" You're looking for a fight every day.
Is that a problem? Because I've led a very sheltered life, is that a problem? What, the aggression? The fights and the aggression.
Yeah, oh, yeah.
Really? It depends where you go.
But yeah, I decided I'd put on a dress, go where I want and then people will hurl abuse and I'll hurl it back.
You've got very nice legs.
Thank you.
I would die for a pair of legs like that! After an hour of stopping, Eddie attempts to run again.
It's definitely time to go.
Been sat here long enough.
Who was he again? But five hours into the marathon, the pace is slower than ever.
Alfie is keeping close by in case Eddie needs help.
I don't know, I think we're about 12, 13 miles into the marathon.
And he keeps saying "I'm running on empty, I'm running on empty.
" So it's a good job we had the fucking food experts in last night, telling him to eat loads of potatoes and to do this and to do that.
He's never been so knackered.
Eddie finishes his 17th marathon in under 11 hours, one of the longest marathons so far.
My feet are all right.
I'm just exhausted.
And he's suffering from extreme fatigue.
Feel hungry? With 26 marathons left in his challenge, Eddie needs to get some energy from somewhere.
Fortunately, he's just got to finish today's marathon to have a rest.
Tomorrow's a day off.
This morning, I had a double bowl of porridge bacon, toasties, toast and Marmite.
I think I need a chef.
But he's more determined than ever to finish today as he wants to revisit a place in the Lakes that holds strong childhood memories for him.
And as an added incentive, he wants to perform a special stand up gig to say thank you to the public.
I thought it was the Lake District, not the Hill District.
His route is a tortuous ascent in one of the Lake District's most isolated regions.
After an hour of struggling uphill, a fan appears from nowhere.
Eddie! Hello.
Hello.
How are you? I'm all right.
Are you off on your jog? Yeah.
You want to run? Yeah, why not? I'll come with you for a bit.
You seriously want to do this? Yeah, OK.
So are you staying on holiday around here? Yeah, got dragged here with the parents.
Cos we're waiting for Dad to get showered, and he said, "If you want a laugh, I've seen Eddie Izzard run past.
"Go on, run after him.
" And I was like, "No, Dad.
" And he was like, "No, you're going to do it.
Go on.
" I was like "Oh, man.
" My parents told me I was coming to Cuba for a week of cocktails in Havana, but no, they dragged me down to the Lake District.
Charlotte thought I was just running around the Lakes.
I didn't realise he was doing mega marathons.
But once Charlotte leaves, he's left alone to battle the elements, and soon finds himself in trouble.
That other route, did you get that? Eddie's lost.
His phone and GPS don't have any signal and neither do the film crew.
This means he can't contact the support team or follow the route.
Come on, come on.
Did you hear that? Fuck! Are you in communication with the car on the radio? Eddie keeps running and soon meets some people who could help.
Hello.
We've come to see if we can keep up with you all the way to Ambleside.
Really? Let's go.
Luckily for Eddie, the Ambleside mountain rescue team know this area well and decide to escort him part of the way.
In Ambleside, we cover a large area right in the heart of the Lake District.
So we average about 100 call outs a year.
Three hours into his marathon, Eddie's still climbing and ahead of him is a steeper ascent up the Lake District's most notorious road.
A ten-mile hike uphill.
Can you actually see where we're going up there? Look, it's in the clouds.
These guys are pace setting, and so I forget about the energy.
At an altitude of 1,500 feet, the Kirkstone Pass is the highest route through the Lake District.
Once you're into the mist, you can see it coming.
There's a line of cloud and once you get into it, you really can't judge distances.
It makes it interesting to run, to keep your morale up.
Above the cloud line, Eddie is running blind.
I can keep going, I can keep staggering.
Normally, you stop and you just walk.
Ignoring the extreme fatigue, he powers on, inspired by the people around him.
If you've got other people to talk to, that is the simple best way of taking your mind off everything.
You can chat, you can discuss, and then time drifts by.
Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.
It helps having people to chat to.
With the rest of the run downhill and the cloud clearing, Eddie can finally enjoy the scenery.
This is actually how I imagined coming to the Lake District.
I imagined this.
Eddie's route takes him around Lake Ullswater.
A mile from the finishing line, he spots something familiar.
Where are we, Eddie? This is Ullswater, the Outward Bound Trust.
Entrance around there.
Eddie has reached the place from his past he was so determined to find.
As a child, he came here on holiday with his brother.
It was a coming of age experience that made a very strong impression on his life.
I think it was the last time I did camping.
It's, again, not exactly primal, but getting back to that primal place, which I just have missed.
30 years ago, I was jumping in.
I would jump in now, but I've got to run another mile.
Moved by his discovery, Eddie finishes his marathon 18 marathons.
.
.
and then returns to the lake he swam in so many years ago.
I need to put my legs into an ice bath, up to a half an hour, not later than half an hour after I finish a marathon.
The freezing water will repair the damage he's done to his muscles after a marathon.
In the old days, at 7am when I was doing the Outward Bound course, we jumped off this jetty into the lake.
And that was freezing.
As the present Outwards Bounds class arrive at the jetty, Eddie realises that ever since his mother died when he was six, he's locked away his childhood memories.
But this return brings them flooding back.
They have been very submerged and I've just pulled them all to the front now.
They've been there, they've just sat with me and decades have ticked by with me not going and reclaiming them.
And now I'm reclaiming them.
Well done.
Finally, Eddie has a recovery day and he can achieve his goal of performing an intimate stand up gig.
Hello there.
Same as usual? Music out, on you go? Yeah.
Cool.
His boyhood memories and adventurous spirit feeds much of his stand up material.
My mum died when I was six and so I've locked that child in.
And that's the child that plays when I do stand up.
It's really that six-year-old, with the brain of an adult, so I can infuse that playfulness with all these ideas.
I have to write out a little list.
I will work with a cue board, but I have to write a list.
It's just like a set list.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE Hi.
I'm a little exhausted, because I ran here from London.
They sometimes say, "Oh, you're jogging.
" And I go, "I'm not jogging.
I'm fucking running!" 19! I've been meeting people, I'm trying to tap into the primal thing.
350 generations ago, we were hunting.
We know we're not designed for thisand a cake.
So I'm interested in us, ladies and gentlemen, the human beings.
The whole world, 6.
5 billion of us.
I'm raising money for Sport Relief and if you possibly could make a donation, um And I've met them on the road, ladies and gentlemen, and passed them, and 99% of them are interesting, they blow their horns and wave.
And 1% of them try to kill me.
I do have an image which I'm trying to push away, of them just clipping me.
You know, "He was doing rea" You know, if they just clip me, that's it.
Bloody hell.
One had a boat on it.
Bloody hell, that was scary.
See, if I step left, I'm gone.
Eddie has run another three marathons into the west of Scotland.
But he still has another 22 marathons to go if he's going to finish in London.
He seems driven not just by the achievement of completing his challenge and raising money for Sport Relief, but by a need to continue his personal journey.
And he's heading to his old home in Bangor, Northern Ireland, a place where he had some of his happiest memories with his mum.
But the conditions are deteriorating fast.
Today is particularly horrible, and there was a chance of weather warnings being issued with the heavy rain.
In order to catch a ferry to his home in Northern Ireland, he must run along the A75, which is congested with heavy lorries.
It's a really dangerous road.
And on the way to the starting point, I saw two cars being pulled out of ditches, so there are a lot of cars just losing control.
It's going to require all of Eddie's mental stamina to keep running.
And the weather has turned into this, which isn't the fault of anything but God.
I don't know, the weather gods have given us this.
And so it is This is kind of miserable.
Running in this If I was crying, you wouldn't know.
Let's turn back.
Ha ha! I've to just keep going through the rain, and on and on and on and on, and then you can't think about it.
If you keep moving, you keep warm.
If you stop for more than two minutes, you freeze.
It's not good.
And I don't like it and I want it to stop.
And then you can't see out of your eyes because the sun cream, which I have to put on sun cream in the morning, even though it's raining, in case it gets sunny.
That gets in your eyes and it's bloody miserable.
Ah, I can't even see now.
Bloody hell.
Eddie has been running for two hours and the rain is showing no signs of abating.
This is a single lane rode all the way to Stranraer with no pavement and the heavy lorries to and from the port come perilously close.
I've seen so many dead things in the road.
A complete fox, his neck broken, entrails spilled everywhere.
Ted got out and took the fox out of the road.
Yeah, instantaneous death.
Eddie has had one of his toughest runs, but a break in the weather lifts his spirits to finish his 22nd marathon and on schedule to reach his ferry.
This last marathon today takes me to Stranraer.
That feels quite an achievement.
To have finally got there, 23 marathons And that really is halfway.
And then I'm going back to where I used to live as a kid.
But to reach his old home and catch the ferry on time, he must tackle the same road.
And a police escort has arrived to take him through the next two miles.
Hello.
This is the first time I've had a police escort anywhere.
There's some bad bends.
We have had accidents in the past.
We obviously don't want you to be suffering any fate like that.
Eddie begins running with the police car behind.
It'll stop cars overtaking him on blind bends, reducing the chances of an accident.
I've got two miles which I'm probably going to stack up the traffic behind me.
It would bug me if someone off the telly was holding me up when I'm trying to catch a ferry or do some work.
I don't know if I can talk and do this.
Eddie increases his pace until the speed is all too much.
He's embarrassed about holding up the traffic.
I feel guilty.
I don't want to hold up everyone.
After 20 minutes of uphill running, the traffic is finally allowed to pass.
Pull in.
Pull in.
He continues his fast pace to the finish.
For most runners, one marathon is enough.
But Eddie, an unfit and untrained comedian, has so far achieved the impossible.
He completes 23 marathons in 26 days and on schedule to make the ferry on time.
Here we go.
This is the way to go on a ferry.
We're now going on to the ferry from Stranraer to Belfast.
I think it's the first time I've ever sailed into Belfast.
The weather's beautiful now.
This is a great way to travel across.
Northern Ireland, where I first went in March of 1964.
Eddie arrives in Northern Ireland.
He will start tomorrow's marathon at Bangor, his home when he was four.
It's another chance for him to revisit his childhood memories.
Never thought I'd come back like this.
It's just machines.
COACH HONKS HORN I lived here from March '64 to October '67 and it was brilliant.
It was before the Troubles, and I didn't know about those anyway, and my mum was alive, so lovely.
Eddie! Covered in bees, indeed.
Well, my mum was alive till I was six and then I never saw her ever, ever, ever again.
And to everyone who's had a bereavement, they'll know that the cut off is so absolute.
And if you didn't know it was coming If you did know, I don't know if it's better, but I didn't know.
She was just ill.
I thought she would get better.
And boom.
So I locked in all my childhood.
I remember a lot of this, before I was six.
I remember Bangor.
I remember 5 Ashford Drive, I remember the house.
I remember playing with the kids.
And that whole childhood I had, I remember that.
A lot of memories that I locked in and I've held on to like this.
40 years ago.
Eddie starts his 24th marathon by running home.
I remember going on a bicycle with training wheels, and I learned to ride a bike at the top of Ashford Drive.
I feel fine.
Oh, here we go.
CHEERING Morning.
How are you doing? Hello.
Good to see you.
I remember when I was a kid I threw mudballs at passing cars from the top of the thing up there.
All of us did, it wasn't just me, your honour.
But yeah, I had a very happy time in the street and Yeah, it was great.
They were a very happy family and his mother was a lovely lady.
I know he has great feelings and remembrance about his mother.
Yes, the best time of my childhood was here so thank you.
Thank you, Bangor.
I have a strange flag which you haven't seen in Northern Ireland.
It's the green of your football team with the dove of peace, the white dove of peace.
Ah, lovely.
So hopefully across the different communities as I run across Northern Ireland, I won't get a large brick thrown at my head while I'm running with this! There we go.
See you.
Bye.
CHEERING Eddie will continue his marathon to Belfast and he's running with a flag he's designed himself.
Having lived in the area, he knows better than most the implications of getting this wrong.
Flags are an important part of life in Northern Ireland.
There are Protestant and Catholic flags and murals segregating areas to this day, a reminder that feelings still run strong.
And five hours into his marathon, Eddie stops running.
He's been invited to a Sport Relief funded project that's trying to make a change through football.
So you get funded by Sport Relief? We do, we do.
For the midnight soccer programme, which is a programme that's held at the weekends, between nine o'clock and midnight, for young people aged between 14 and 17.
Nine o'clock in the morning or the evening? Nine o'clock in the evening till midnight.
Oh, right.
So we're trying to give kids an alternative.
Especially here, when the midnight soccer started, this park was a no-go area.
They're a very vulnerable age group, for what's out there, for young people.
There has been much bloodshed between Protestant and Catholic teenagers and midnight soccer tries to keep them off the streets and away from trouble.
When I was 13 I was getting arrested and fighting with Protestants and all that.
And you thought they were evil.
I thought Protestants were out to kill you, and that's what you thought, because when you're growing up in Belfast, that's the way it is.
I tell you, I wouldn't want to be a Catholic come into our estate, because lots of things will happen to them, like they would get beatings, get hit with bats.
Some of these kids from midnight soccer live only streets away, but their neighbourhoods have been divided by sectarianism and violence.
Have you noticed a change over the years? Yeah, definitely.
Changed my perception, really, doing this here.
A mix of Protestants and Catholics on the same team really.
We're different, we're the same.
When you cut us, we bleed.
It's all the same thing.
So I made up this flag, which is the green of the Northern Irish football team and the dove of peace.
Midnight soccer is giving one community hope like Sport Relief projects right across the UK.
Eddie hopes his flag will unite rather than divide communities.
He'll soon find out as he's running through Belfast and he's feeling apprehensive about how people will react.
The idea that you can walk into Northern Ireland and put anything to Northern Irish people and say, "What about this?" is just a crazy idea.
But I thought I'd try it because I'm running through it and I'm just saying, "Here's a flag I'm flying with.
I hope you're OK about it.
" Just as he begins, he's joined by some locals.
Adele is Catholic and Tony's Protestant, and I'm an atheist, so this is perfect.
And I'm running with a flag that is not contained in this street and it should be OK.
This is modern Belfast, and feelings still run deep.
He ran through some areas that have seen some very dark times and it was interesting, he had his flag.
We struggle with flags here in Northern Ireland.
Eight hours into the marathon, Tony takes Eddie off route to the Shankill area, which has witnessed some of the worst atrocities seen in Northern Ireland.
To this day, it remains a focal point of the Troubles.
When I was in my senior years in school, there was a big bomb on the Shankill.
An IRA man or two IRA men walked in with a bomb.
One of them was actually killed himself.
I think there was ten people killed.
It's like anywhere, you have to be careful where you go.
There's always going to be areas that you maybe shouldn't step into.
Leaving Shankill, Eddie arrives at an interface area, where the two religious communities meet.
This is the top of Woodvale which is at the top of the Shankill Road, and we've got a chapel here which is Ardoyne Chapel, a Catholic church.
And this huge fence is there to protect the Catholic church.
The Orangemen from Protestant North Belfast march down here and that's a real bone of contention, so this is what we would call one of our biggest interface areas.
It's a shame, because the people around, we do want peace.
This is my area.
This is where I'm from and we do want peace, but unfortunately there is still that underlying tension at times.
And hopefully as we continue to move forward, that will change.
After making so many stops, he's now battling to finish before the sun goes down.
Running out of Belfast, he's joined by several runners, both Protestants and Catholics, uniting to support him and push him on.
The support team wait for Eddie at the finish but no-one's heard from him in over an hour.
What's the time now? Now it is 8.
55 and it's pitch black.
Eddie finishes his 24th marathon, his longest day so far.
A new record of 24 marathons in 28 days in the record time of about 12 hours.
Ah, that was tough, that end.
Sipping a bottle of whisky, he reflects on how difficult this marathon has been.
Just too tired, too long.
Finished after dark, after sunset.
That's too much.
But he's got to get up tomorrow and do it all over again.
He's only halfway through his challenge.
He still got another 19 marathons to the finish, with his toughest tests ahead of him.
I'm tired now.
He has to conquer the Scottish terrain, extreme temperatures and battle the elements.
Bloody miserable.
Dark, windy and rainy.
It's just utter misery.
No longer an unfit comedian, Eddie's running faster, stronger and getting more support than ever before.
Do you go off road in this? But by putting his body under incredible pressure .
.
it's only a matter of time before it all breaks down.
He's got to battle his injuries to get to London on time to finish his incredible mega marathon around the United Kingdom.
If you've been inspired by Eddie's extraordinary challenge, you can make a donation to Sport Relief right now.
Just text EDDIE to 70005, and Sport Relief will get ã5 to help transform the lives of poor and vulnerable people all over the UK and in the world's poorest countries.
Texts cost ã5 plus your standard network message charge and the whole ã5 goes to Sport Relief.
Eddie Izzard is an actor, comedian and also happens to be a transvestite.
He is definitely not an athlete.
But on July 27th, 2009 at 47 years of age, Eddie decided to go for a run, a very long run.
His aim, to cover over a thousand brutal miles around the United Kingdom, an incredible Sport Relief challenge.
I'm just some bozo who's saying, "Oh, I'm going to do this", and started running a couple of weeks ago.
I've run before mainly for buses.
He will run through England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland, a marathon a day, six days a week for eight weeks.
Trailed by his own ice cream van, he'll encourage the nation to donate and run with him.
I'm interested in people.
It's hopefully an adventure that can be fun.
But with little training, experience or preparation, this truly is a lunatic adventure.
If you carry on running, you might not even make it to the last day.
One man's mad struggle to run some of Britain's toughest terrain.
It's just me and my body and can I make it? And attempt something truly extraordinary.
11 days ago, Eddie Izzard set off from Trafalgar Square in an attempt to run 43 marathons through the four capitals of the United Kingdom in eight weeks.
Incredibly difficult challenge even for the most seasoned of ultra endurance runner.
Eddie Izzard isn't that.
Ex-Olympian, professor Greg White, had just five weeks to turn Eddie into an ultra marathon runner.
Followed by a small support team, and a film crew on a rickshaw, every moment of his challenge was recorded.
Let me shake your hand, because I think there's something wrong with you.
Thank you.
I did this to raise money for Sport Relief.
I did this because it was an epic, crazy adventure.
Running is just so simple.
It's just me.
It's just my body, and off we go.
His insane mission started in London and took him west into Wales.
After 100 miles, he suffered from torn, blistered feet.
At 150 miles and seven marathons, his body was ravaged by crippling injury.
Argh! But he kept on running, determined to get to his old childhood home, where his mum spent her last days.
After running over 250 miles, he tackled his toughest climb over a thousand foot ascent through the Brecon Beacons.
Maybe it starts here.
To complete ten gut-busting marathons in 11 days.
I am becoming this marathon man thing.
But unbelievably, he's still got 33 marathons and 900 miles to go.
It's 8am, and Eddie is warming up for his 11th marathon.
Word of his achievement is spreading, and a film crew have arrived for a live television interview.
I think running is very primal.
We used to hunt in this way slightly crazy, and my feet, as you can see, are sort of slightly disintegrating, but I'll make it because I'm determined.
Up here, I'm determined.
My body isn't determined, but my brain is.
Eddie is rising to the challenge for Sport Relief, helping raise money for charity projects in the UK and abroad.
So far, he's covered nearly 300 miles, arriving in Mid Wales, but he's still got 900 miles to go.
His route will take him north through Liverpool and into Scotland.
From there, he'll catch a ferry to Belfast, where he'll visit a Sport Relief project.
He'll then continue his mega marathon across Northern Ireland and finally run from Glasgow down to London.
My personal journey is to see the United Kingdom all the way around, because most people don't, and I'd already found it quite beautiful as a stand up to go and play places like Shetland, Orkney.
I find that interesting, and then to go and run there is great, and while I'm doing that, I can pick up on places that I have been in my childhood.
Eddie sets off on his 11th marathon.
He's focused on the next stage of his personal journey reaching the Lake District, 180 miles away, a place that had a profound effect on him when he holidayed there as a boy.
But after just half an hour, he pulls up in agony.
He said he was in so much pain as he was running down that first five miles.
He's usually really, really fresh, and he seems to have plenty of energy, but he's in pain, real pain.
Jo, his sports therapist, assesses the damage.
Argh! All right there, yeah? For the last week, Eddie has suffered from painful blisters, but a new problem is making the pain worse than ever.
The skin around the toe which has softened up and is a bit loose from where we treated the blisters, is flapping off and coming away.
There is like a crevice, almost like a hole, where the toenail's ready to come out of the bed.
Ai! Sorry.
If the toenail comes off, it will be too painful to run.
All right.
We just do what bandage it up again, and I'll do what I can.
Unless drastic action is taken, Eddie will struggle to run another 33 marathons to the finish, and even just making it to the Lake District, seven marathons away seems unlikely.
I thought they were healing up now.
This one's gone weird.
Remember just to walk if it gets too much.
All right.
I said to him if it gets really painful, then he needs to just walk.
Because he's stubborn, I'm not sure that he will do that.
But Eddie ignores Jo's pleas, preferring to keep running and dealing with the pain his own way.
I had a lot of pain this morning in my right foot.
And I took pain relievers.
Now I have no pain.
He's as high as a kite.
He hasn't got a clue where he is at the moment.
He's had four Nurofen.
He's all over the place.
Eddie sprints into his first town of the day.
His very own ice cream van is waiting, giving out free ice creams for Sport Relief donations.
I'm running all around the country.
If you can, sponsor me.
I'll give you ã50,000.
ã50,000, it's on television now.
The rest of your life, you'll be paying it off, kid.
Although Eddie is running freely, the painkillers are only masking the damage he is doing to his body, and seven hours into his marathon, Jo notices a deterioration in Eddie's feet.
I've taken some paracetamol, and I've shot heroin into my eyeball, and I don't care any more! For the nail, it's coming off.
It's almost off.
It really stinks.
It's disgusting.
The smell from that toe is not nice.
So I want to have a good look at that later.
Just one marathon is enough for most professional athletes, but Eddie, who has no running experience, completes 11 marathons in just 12 days.
Yay! 11.
He's taken back to his hotel to recover.
A doctor is called to assess his badly injured foot.
This is the good foot.
That looks pretty good.
Compared to what it was I mean, look at that one.
And then this is the bad.
Because the sheer force because every time you run, that sort of pushes against it.
He must be in pain all the time, and I know he's putting a very brave face on it.
Eddie has subjected his feet to over 300 miles of constant pounding, causing the skin on his toe to wear away.
Now he's in danger of losing the final remaining skin layers.
If that continues breaking down and then gets infected, the whole toe will become infected.
He might have to stop.
That will be a disaster.
The doctor advises a day of rest, but it's looking unlikely that he his feet will last 160 miles to the Lake District, let alone finish his Sport Relief journey around the UK.
A day off yesterday was a really good idea, actually, because it gave Eddie's feet a chance to heal.
Feeling refreshed after his day off and his toe partially healed, Eddie starts his 12th marathon at a blistering pace.
Despite his injuries, he's decided to try and set his fastest ever time.
All my marathons have been endurance.
None of them have been speed, and I'm playing around with an idea .
.
to try to get four hours a four-hour marathon.
If I can keep up an average of seven miles per hour, I can do a four-hour marathon.
Four hours to complete the 26.
2 miles of a marathon is a fast time only achieved by the top 30% of runners at the London Marathon.
Eddie's fastest time so far is eight hours.
I don't know whether the foot will hold out, my energy.
I don't know what'll happen.
Eddie's chosen a bad day to be running.
His route will take him on the A483, a popular route for speeding bikers with treacherous bends and blind spots.
It's one of the main routes through Wales.
There's no pavement.
It's two-way traffic.
So Eddie's going to have to be very vigilant.
He's set off today at an incredible pace, doing, you know, seven, eight, mile an hour, places he's sprinting on a road that is so incredibly dangerous.
I mean, there's little floral memorials as you go along where people have been killed on that road.
Look.
Flowers, someone died here.
To break four hours, Eddie has to negotiate each bend and just hope that by waving his flag and staying alert, he avoids being hit.
Well, I am very wary of these roads because when I stop to cross, I have to look back.
I'm getting casual sometimes.
Now, if I'm running on that side into the traffic, that's how it should be by the Highway Code because I can see everything coming down this side.
The trouble is, some bastards decide to overtake right at this point, so even just doing that could mean goodbye, forget it, you know, end of life.
But as time goes on, the traffic gets faster and heavier.
Without any pavement for safety, Eddie is running head on into the traffic.
Fucking hell! Jesus Christ! Did you see that car almost drive into me? Yeah.
We thought, was this our angle or something? Because it just looked like it went He came straight at me.
I started waving the flag.
I was waving the flag.
He went right by there.
Did you see that? Yeah.
Despite his close call, Eddie's determined to finish in under four hours.
Right now, he's on target to make it.
He even wants to test himself at two-hour world record pace.
Two hours is, you're keeping a constant average of just over 13 miles an hour.
Think of this, I'm doing 7.
4 an hour, so that's twice as fast as I'm going.
Let's try 13 miles an hour.
Speed up, Ted.
I'll show you what 13 feels like.
What have we got? What time? It has to take time for the satellites.
This is 12.
So it's about this thisfor two hours.
Bloody hell.
At this pace, Eddie's running out of energy and stops the support team for more fuel.
I did that burst of 13 miles an hour and thought, "That's a bit stupid.
" 13? Yeah, I wanted to show them what the Olympic pace is so I took it up to 13.
The team don't agree with Eddie's approach.
He's putting extra strain on his body that is still recovering from injury after running 11 marathons.
He's done all that sprinting.
He's been on the painkillers.
He's feeling great.
He's run off seven, eight miles an hour.
The painkillers are now wearing off two or three hours down the line.
I don't think it's a sensible thing to do.
Shit, shit, shit! Oh, fuck.
I think he's stupid! He's got a bloody injury to his foot, and now he wants to try to run a marathon in four hours, which is just bizarre, and now he's got a sore hip, and now he's got a sore knee all because he's running faster, and he's still got another ooh, five weeks to go.
In just four hours, Eddie has run 20 miles, but by running at this pace, he's now in agony.
Yeah, pain's just shoving me over to the other side, so ah! Bollocks! It felt good to be running.
Goddamn toe.
I could have made four hours.
Eddie endures a painful walk for the last few miles, eventually finishing his 12th marathon in a disappointing six hours.
Eddie's put his whole challenge in jeopardy by trying to run a fast time.
He now faces six consecutive marathons until his next day off in the Lake District, a place with strong childhood memories, so Eddie tries a different approach to rest his aching body and takes every opportunity to well, muck about.
For whatever reason, this is the border of Wales .
.
and the border of England.
Here in the middle in no-man's land.
There's no rules.
Throughout his journey, Eddie carries a flag of the country he runs through, and the flag ceremony is a big part of his adventure.
So now we say goodbye to the Welsh flag for ten miles and hello to the English flag, again, which has just been superglued back on.
ICE CREAM VAN JINGLE PLAYS Eddie takes all morning to reach his first town of the day.
Shut that bloody noise off! We have gone mad for Greensleeves.
And now he finds a spot of lunch.
Do you want a coffee? Can I eat in your shop? Yeah, coffee.
Yeah.
How do you want it? Can I have a skinny latte? Skinny latte coming up.
How many miles are you doing on your bike? This is my bike.
They're called legs.
I'm not on a bike.
How many are you going to do altogether? I'm going to do 40 marathons? Oh, my God! I'm going to run millions and zillions of miles.
Millions and zillions of miles! With the power of that ice cream! And whoosh! And now I go! Eddie leaves, full of good cheer and latte, but just a few miles up the road, his laid-back approach backfires.
Eddie's slipped on the pavement edge, coming perilously close to seriously injuring himself.
If I twist my ankle on this, that's the end of the whole fucking thing.
That was a wake-up call, as they say.
Here we go.
With another 820 miles of his challenge left, he tentatively runs on, needing some Dutch courage to steady the nerves.
One shot of vodka to Russia and Wales and England.
And everyone! 'I just want to keep going.
I'm a relentless idiot.
' Diolch yn fawr.
'And I'll do whatever I need to do to get around, to be as interesting 'as possible and to hopefully raise enough cash, do some good.
' Thank you very much.
What's your name? Angel.
Eddie realises that each step could be his last.
He remembers the importance of his Sport Relief mission to focus on running and generate support.
I'm a bit sweaty.
I don't care.
I don't care! Where are you running to? To Belfast.
Pardon? To Belfast.
You're running the Belfast? Really? Honestly? 'I like doing one thing that does several things.
' Health, raise money, make an adventure, maybe inspire a kid.
You'll be, like, one of those sporting heroes.
'Four or five things you can do with one thing' I love that, I just love that.
Running with the boys gives him a chance to feel young again.
He races them in a sprint to finish in ten hours, one of his slowest times.
But he doesn't care.
For the first time in ages, he seems unaffected by the effort.
They certainly killed me! You were really trying, as well, weren't you? I was really trying.
Who won, then? Who won? Did you win it? Eddie seems to be adjusting to the demands of his challenge.
Running at a slower pace has allowed his feet to heal.
Overnight, Eddie's feet have just it's just remarkable.
They were still quite sore, a little bit soft, especially that little toe, and this morning, they've just hardened up.
It's brilliant.
But he's still got 29 marathons to go.
To get through the impossible task, he's set himself the smaller goal of running 100 miles for a rest in the Lake District, a place he's been keen to revisit since his childhood.
Running on a day like this with a breeze This is the River Dee.
Up here around Chester, the rivers are alphabetical.
Back there in Wrexham, the River B, River C in between, River D, River E further up until you get to Shetland and where River Z is.
That's how we work it in the United Kingdom.
This is really nice.
I knew the sunshine would be here.
I brought it here in my ice cream van.
Enjoy the rest of the day.
I've arranged the weather to be good all day.
Leaving the picturesque setting of Chester behind, eight hours into his run, the landscape begins to change.
The countryside gives way to urban sprawl as Eddie approaches Merseyside.
You've got some company here, Eddie.
Want some help? Yeah.
Running? Yeah.
Come on, then.
Eddie's been spotted by local boys Chris and Ryan, who've been hanging around town all day.
You just come as far as you want to.
You don't have to come all the way.
Anything is helpful.
Eddie is running through Hooton, an area struggling in the recession.
For kids growing up around here, gang culture isn't easy to avoid.
There's nothing else to do, so it's like most kids turn to drinking and drugs, and it ends up with them doing coke and shit.
A couple of youth centres would be good.
It would probably stop, like, all the thefts and people getting jumped and stuff.
How does it make you feel, running like this? Tired! Tired, but I'm proud that I've lasted this long.
'Makes you feel like 15 minutes of fame.
' Yeah.
Everyone going past beeping because you're with someone famous.
Different to what we normally do.
I'll say that! Chris and Ryan keep pace with Eddie for six miles, a great achievement, and Eddie finishes his 14th marathon.
There we go.
Thank you.
Good luck to Eddie.
It's inspirational what he's doing, going across the country, and he's helping he's doing it for a good cause.
Eddie's completed 14 marathons in 16 days.
For his 15th, he's taking the most direct route to the Lake District.
He's already run five miles to the Mersey.
Now he has to take a ferry to cross it into Liverpool.
I'm playing there.
That's the arena.
A crowd has gathered.
News of Eddie's challenge is spreading.
Go, Eddie! Go, Eddie! Go, Eddie! Thank you.
It's great that you're here, and the amount of honking and waving I've had coming up through Birkenhead and going through Liverpool it's more than I have had so far, it's great.
If people just honk their horns, I just keep going.
CHEERING AND CLAPPING Cheers! Hi! I just think the word's out now.
I think we'll find as we go to bigger towns and cities that more people know.
TOOTING Skin scouser watch all your shows, all that lark.
Well done.
I watch you on the telly.
Well done as well.
Thanks, mate.
And you're right about Hunter Gatherer.
I know.
Well, I'm trying it out! Can I get a lift? There's a real buzz in Liverpool, and he seems to be attracting new fans.
This is my 15th marathon.
High five.
He's brilliant! We'll follow you as much as we can.
Oh, that's good.
Thank you.
These boys rarely leave Aintree on their own, but want to cycle with Eddie as far as they can.
I gave Eddie ã2 out of my dinner money because we don't need it as much as he needs it.
Thanks very much.
'When people came unexpectedly, that was the best thing, and the 'two kids who cycled with me, and they kept saying' they wanted to go further, they wanted to go all the way.
Their mum has said, "Yeah, it's fine as long as they're safe.
" We found two crash helmets.
We found two high vis jackets.
'That adventurer's spirit is great.
' That's what the country needs.
I just thought, "If I was a kid, I would have loved that.
" Dylan there is in a world of his own.
He's not even tired.
Are you getting tired? Yeah, I'm knackered.
We're only at 17 miles.
Just pretend there's a massive pepperoni pizza at the end.
This is the furthest I've ever been as well.
This is well the furthest.
I'm going to tell my mum tonight that it's well been the best day you could ever have.
Eddie finishes his 15th marathon, but the last nine miles were a real effort.
After 15 marathons in 17 days, Eddie's exhausted, and he's still got another three marathons before his one rest day at the Lake District.
He asks a nutritional expert to join him, hoping he can help him complete the remaining 28 marathons of his Sport Relief challenge.
The average meal of a sedentary person needs about 2,000 to 2,500 calories a day to survive.
Right.
So you're thinking you're burning 6,000, 7,000, then, yeah, you can eat quite a lot, but I never get bored of eating.
I'm not bored of potatoes.
Running on empty, the expert realises Eddie has no nutritional discipline, with ice cream his snack of choice.
Treats are there to be enjoyed, but when you're doing a challenge like this, then you've really got to look after your nutrition.
So far, in his mega marathon around the UK, Eddie has been eating ice cream 99s Statue of Liberty.
And ice lolly calypos when he's felt the need to.
Calypos are made out of calipers and hippos.
But due to the circumstances, other food supplements have been on hand.
I've got a secret stash of goods in the car that Eddie, you know, likes to dip into when nobody knows, like the nutritionists and everything.
And here is the secret stash of everything that is good for a runner.
These ones here have got breakfast cereal in them, so they're really, really good for you.
I'm not very strict at the moment.
I've sort of gone back to eating any old rubbish.
If you can really get the nutrition right, then the second half of this adventure around the UK will be a lot more pleasant.
After five hours, Eddie's left to run the marathon alone, and the scorching heat continues to sap his energy.
You know what this is? This is the fifth day in a row, yeah? It's just, I started on empty, and I've continued on empty, and then I think it's something to do with potatoes and Without a new high carbs diet, he's jeopardising getting to the Lake District and a chance to go back to the place from his childhood.
He eventually completes his 16th marathon in ten hours.
Back at the hotel, Peter joins him for dinner.
Eddie's desperate to eat anything that'll give him more energy.
He's got to refuel tonight so he can set on his way to the Lake District tomorrow morning.
Is this a double portion of potatoes? It is, sir.
If you eat all that, I'll be impressed, and tomorrow morning, you'll be fresh.
That is the most routined I've ever been.
Peter seems impressed as Eddie force feeds himself potato after potato.
He's done well there, a good plate full of food there, so I've got to go to bed right now because otherwise I'm going to throw up, actually.
I haven't eaten like this in After 20 potatoes, Eddie can barely move.
The following morning, nutrition is still Eddie's main concern.
I felt sick after eating the potatoes .
.
last night.
I've never been sick of potatoes.
Pete, the expert, was saying that people wake up in the morning and eat pasta and omelettes for breakfast.
Whee! I was eating so much food thatermI don't care about anything.
I'm just going to run.
Despite having a huge breakfast, Eddie figures by continuing to cram more food into himself, he'll get the kick start he needs.
Come on, Eddie! He stops at a burger van to refuel, which seems to be a local hang out.
You look knackered! Come on.
Come on.
You have to make it flutter.
Eddie, how you doing, mate? All right.
Well done, fella.
Well done, Eddie.
Cheers, mate.
Well done.
Nice legs, by the way.
Ah, yes.
They were crafted.
I'm not moving from here.
Stopping gives Alfie the chance to confront Eddie, as he disagrees with his new diet of overeating.
There's something to be said, though, for eating late at night, eating big meals late at night.
Good or bad? It's bad, because it keeps your body awake digesting it, so your body is knackered through digesting all that food.
What's the answer, then? Six o'clock.
No carbohydrates after six o'clock.
I hear you, but I can't get them into me at 6pm if I'm still running.
There lies the dilemma.
There lies the dilemma.
TOOTING Eddie prefers to do it his way and keep refuelling.
Soon, the conversation takes on a more sensitive nature.
Can I ask you a personal question? Was it so you could get on in the business or just something you? What, make up? No, I am a transvestite.
I was born a transvestite.
I knew when I was four, four or five.
Seriously? Yeah, yeah.
I do believe that gay people, lesbian people, trans-gender people, it's built in.
Who would choose this? I'm a straight transvestite.
So I fancy women, and you wouldn't choose the extra bit, all the fights and stuff, people screaming at you and abuse.
Why would you choose that for "I think it's quite fun if I go and put on make-up.
" You're looking for a fight every day.
Is that a problem? Because I've led a very sheltered life, is that a problem? What, the aggression? The fights and the aggression.
Yeah, oh, yeah.
Really? It depends where you go.
But yeah, I decided I'd put on a dress, go where I want and then people will hurl abuse and I'll hurl it back.
You've got very nice legs.
Thank you.
I would die for a pair of legs like that! After an hour of stopping, Eddie attempts to run again.
It's definitely time to go.
Been sat here long enough.
Who was he again? But five hours into the marathon, the pace is slower than ever.
Alfie is keeping close by in case Eddie needs help.
I don't know, I think we're about 12, 13 miles into the marathon.
And he keeps saying "I'm running on empty, I'm running on empty.
" So it's a good job we had the fucking food experts in last night, telling him to eat loads of potatoes and to do this and to do that.
He's never been so knackered.
Eddie finishes his 17th marathon in under 11 hours, one of the longest marathons so far.
My feet are all right.
I'm just exhausted.
And he's suffering from extreme fatigue.
Feel hungry? With 26 marathons left in his challenge, Eddie needs to get some energy from somewhere.
Fortunately, he's just got to finish today's marathon to have a rest.
Tomorrow's a day off.
This morning, I had a double bowl of porridge bacon, toasties, toast and Marmite.
I think I need a chef.
But he's more determined than ever to finish today as he wants to revisit a place in the Lakes that holds strong childhood memories for him.
And as an added incentive, he wants to perform a special stand up gig to say thank you to the public.
I thought it was the Lake District, not the Hill District.
His route is a tortuous ascent in one of the Lake District's most isolated regions.
After an hour of struggling uphill, a fan appears from nowhere.
Eddie! Hello.
Hello.
How are you? I'm all right.
Are you off on your jog? Yeah.
You want to run? Yeah, why not? I'll come with you for a bit.
You seriously want to do this? Yeah, OK.
So are you staying on holiday around here? Yeah, got dragged here with the parents.
Cos we're waiting for Dad to get showered, and he said, "If you want a laugh, I've seen Eddie Izzard run past.
"Go on, run after him.
" And I was like, "No, Dad.
" And he was like, "No, you're going to do it.
Go on.
" I was like "Oh, man.
" My parents told me I was coming to Cuba for a week of cocktails in Havana, but no, they dragged me down to the Lake District.
Charlotte thought I was just running around the Lakes.
I didn't realise he was doing mega marathons.
But once Charlotte leaves, he's left alone to battle the elements, and soon finds himself in trouble.
That other route, did you get that? Eddie's lost.
His phone and GPS don't have any signal and neither do the film crew.
This means he can't contact the support team or follow the route.
Come on, come on.
Did you hear that? Fuck! Are you in communication with the car on the radio? Eddie keeps running and soon meets some people who could help.
Hello.
We've come to see if we can keep up with you all the way to Ambleside.
Really? Let's go.
Luckily for Eddie, the Ambleside mountain rescue team know this area well and decide to escort him part of the way.
In Ambleside, we cover a large area right in the heart of the Lake District.
So we average about 100 call outs a year.
Three hours into his marathon, Eddie's still climbing and ahead of him is a steeper ascent up the Lake District's most notorious road.
A ten-mile hike uphill.
Can you actually see where we're going up there? Look, it's in the clouds.
These guys are pace setting, and so I forget about the energy.
At an altitude of 1,500 feet, the Kirkstone Pass is the highest route through the Lake District.
Once you're into the mist, you can see it coming.
There's a line of cloud and once you get into it, you really can't judge distances.
It makes it interesting to run, to keep your morale up.
Above the cloud line, Eddie is running blind.
I can keep going, I can keep staggering.
Normally, you stop and you just walk.
Ignoring the extreme fatigue, he powers on, inspired by the people around him.
If you've got other people to talk to, that is the simple best way of taking your mind off everything.
You can chat, you can discuss, and then time drifts by.
Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.
It helps having people to chat to.
With the rest of the run downhill and the cloud clearing, Eddie can finally enjoy the scenery.
This is actually how I imagined coming to the Lake District.
I imagined this.
Eddie's route takes him around Lake Ullswater.
A mile from the finishing line, he spots something familiar.
Where are we, Eddie? This is Ullswater, the Outward Bound Trust.
Entrance around there.
Eddie has reached the place from his past he was so determined to find.
As a child, he came here on holiday with his brother.
It was a coming of age experience that made a very strong impression on his life.
I think it was the last time I did camping.
It's, again, not exactly primal, but getting back to that primal place, which I just have missed.
30 years ago, I was jumping in.
I would jump in now, but I've got to run another mile.
Moved by his discovery, Eddie finishes his marathon 18 marathons.
.
.
and then returns to the lake he swam in so many years ago.
I need to put my legs into an ice bath, up to a half an hour, not later than half an hour after I finish a marathon.
The freezing water will repair the damage he's done to his muscles after a marathon.
In the old days, at 7am when I was doing the Outward Bound course, we jumped off this jetty into the lake.
And that was freezing.
As the present Outwards Bounds class arrive at the jetty, Eddie realises that ever since his mother died when he was six, he's locked away his childhood memories.
But this return brings them flooding back.
They have been very submerged and I've just pulled them all to the front now.
They've been there, they've just sat with me and decades have ticked by with me not going and reclaiming them.
And now I'm reclaiming them.
Well done.
Finally, Eddie has a recovery day and he can achieve his goal of performing an intimate stand up gig.
Hello there.
Same as usual? Music out, on you go? Yeah.
Cool.
His boyhood memories and adventurous spirit feeds much of his stand up material.
My mum died when I was six and so I've locked that child in.
And that's the child that plays when I do stand up.
It's really that six-year-old, with the brain of an adult, so I can infuse that playfulness with all these ideas.
I have to write out a little list.
I will work with a cue board, but I have to write a list.
It's just like a set list.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE Hi.
I'm a little exhausted, because I ran here from London.
They sometimes say, "Oh, you're jogging.
" And I go, "I'm not jogging.
I'm fucking running!" 19! I've been meeting people, I'm trying to tap into the primal thing.
350 generations ago, we were hunting.
We know we're not designed for thisand a cake.
So I'm interested in us, ladies and gentlemen, the human beings.
The whole world, 6.
5 billion of us.
I'm raising money for Sport Relief and if you possibly could make a donation, um And I've met them on the road, ladies and gentlemen, and passed them, and 99% of them are interesting, they blow their horns and wave.
And 1% of them try to kill me.
I do have an image which I'm trying to push away, of them just clipping me.
You know, "He was doing rea" You know, if they just clip me, that's it.
Bloody hell.
One had a boat on it.
Bloody hell, that was scary.
See, if I step left, I'm gone.
Eddie has run another three marathons into the west of Scotland.
But he still has another 22 marathons to go if he's going to finish in London.
He seems driven not just by the achievement of completing his challenge and raising money for Sport Relief, but by a need to continue his personal journey.
And he's heading to his old home in Bangor, Northern Ireland, a place where he had some of his happiest memories with his mum.
But the conditions are deteriorating fast.
Today is particularly horrible, and there was a chance of weather warnings being issued with the heavy rain.
In order to catch a ferry to his home in Northern Ireland, he must run along the A75, which is congested with heavy lorries.
It's a really dangerous road.
And on the way to the starting point, I saw two cars being pulled out of ditches, so there are a lot of cars just losing control.
It's going to require all of Eddie's mental stamina to keep running.
And the weather has turned into this, which isn't the fault of anything but God.
I don't know, the weather gods have given us this.
And so it is This is kind of miserable.
Running in this If I was crying, you wouldn't know.
Let's turn back.
Ha ha! I've to just keep going through the rain, and on and on and on and on, and then you can't think about it.
If you keep moving, you keep warm.
If you stop for more than two minutes, you freeze.
It's not good.
And I don't like it and I want it to stop.
And then you can't see out of your eyes because the sun cream, which I have to put on sun cream in the morning, even though it's raining, in case it gets sunny.
That gets in your eyes and it's bloody miserable.
Ah, I can't even see now.
Bloody hell.
Eddie has been running for two hours and the rain is showing no signs of abating.
This is a single lane rode all the way to Stranraer with no pavement and the heavy lorries to and from the port come perilously close.
I've seen so many dead things in the road.
A complete fox, his neck broken, entrails spilled everywhere.
Ted got out and took the fox out of the road.
Yeah, instantaneous death.
Eddie has had one of his toughest runs, but a break in the weather lifts his spirits to finish his 22nd marathon and on schedule to reach his ferry.
This last marathon today takes me to Stranraer.
That feels quite an achievement.
To have finally got there, 23 marathons And that really is halfway.
And then I'm going back to where I used to live as a kid.
But to reach his old home and catch the ferry on time, he must tackle the same road.
And a police escort has arrived to take him through the next two miles.
Hello.
This is the first time I've had a police escort anywhere.
There's some bad bends.
We have had accidents in the past.
We obviously don't want you to be suffering any fate like that.
Eddie begins running with the police car behind.
It'll stop cars overtaking him on blind bends, reducing the chances of an accident.
I've got two miles which I'm probably going to stack up the traffic behind me.
It would bug me if someone off the telly was holding me up when I'm trying to catch a ferry or do some work.
I don't know if I can talk and do this.
Eddie increases his pace until the speed is all too much.
He's embarrassed about holding up the traffic.
I feel guilty.
I don't want to hold up everyone.
After 20 minutes of uphill running, the traffic is finally allowed to pass.
Pull in.
Pull in.
He continues his fast pace to the finish.
For most runners, one marathon is enough.
But Eddie, an unfit and untrained comedian, has so far achieved the impossible.
He completes 23 marathons in 26 days and on schedule to make the ferry on time.
Here we go.
This is the way to go on a ferry.
We're now going on to the ferry from Stranraer to Belfast.
I think it's the first time I've ever sailed into Belfast.
The weather's beautiful now.
This is a great way to travel across.
Northern Ireland, where I first went in March of 1964.
Eddie arrives in Northern Ireland.
He will start tomorrow's marathon at Bangor, his home when he was four.
It's another chance for him to revisit his childhood memories.
Never thought I'd come back like this.
It's just machines.
COACH HONKS HORN I lived here from March '64 to October '67 and it was brilliant.
It was before the Troubles, and I didn't know about those anyway, and my mum was alive, so lovely.
Eddie! Covered in bees, indeed.
Well, my mum was alive till I was six and then I never saw her ever, ever, ever again.
And to everyone who's had a bereavement, they'll know that the cut off is so absolute.
And if you didn't know it was coming If you did know, I don't know if it's better, but I didn't know.
She was just ill.
I thought she would get better.
And boom.
So I locked in all my childhood.
I remember a lot of this, before I was six.
I remember Bangor.
I remember 5 Ashford Drive, I remember the house.
I remember playing with the kids.
And that whole childhood I had, I remember that.
A lot of memories that I locked in and I've held on to like this.
40 years ago.
Eddie starts his 24th marathon by running home.
I remember going on a bicycle with training wheels, and I learned to ride a bike at the top of Ashford Drive.
I feel fine.
Oh, here we go.
CHEERING Morning.
How are you doing? Hello.
Good to see you.
I remember when I was a kid I threw mudballs at passing cars from the top of the thing up there.
All of us did, it wasn't just me, your honour.
But yeah, I had a very happy time in the street and Yeah, it was great.
They were a very happy family and his mother was a lovely lady.
I know he has great feelings and remembrance about his mother.
Yes, the best time of my childhood was here so thank you.
Thank you, Bangor.
I have a strange flag which you haven't seen in Northern Ireland.
It's the green of your football team with the dove of peace, the white dove of peace.
Ah, lovely.
So hopefully across the different communities as I run across Northern Ireland, I won't get a large brick thrown at my head while I'm running with this! There we go.
See you.
Bye.
CHEERING Eddie will continue his marathon to Belfast and he's running with a flag he's designed himself.
Having lived in the area, he knows better than most the implications of getting this wrong.
Flags are an important part of life in Northern Ireland.
There are Protestant and Catholic flags and murals segregating areas to this day, a reminder that feelings still run strong.
And five hours into his marathon, Eddie stops running.
He's been invited to a Sport Relief funded project that's trying to make a change through football.
So you get funded by Sport Relief? We do, we do.
For the midnight soccer programme, which is a programme that's held at the weekends, between nine o'clock and midnight, for young people aged between 14 and 17.
Nine o'clock in the morning or the evening? Nine o'clock in the evening till midnight.
Oh, right.
So we're trying to give kids an alternative.
Especially here, when the midnight soccer started, this park was a no-go area.
They're a very vulnerable age group, for what's out there, for young people.
There has been much bloodshed between Protestant and Catholic teenagers and midnight soccer tries to keep them off the streets and away from trouble.
When I was 13 I was getting arrested and fighting with Protestants and all that.
And you thought they were evil.
I thought Protestants were out to kill you, and that's what you thought, because when you're growing up in Belfast, that's the way it is.
I tell you, I wouldn't want to be a Catholic come into our estate, because lots of things will happen to them, like they would get beatings, get hit with bats.
Some of these kids from midnight soccer live only streets away, but their neighbourhoods have been divided by sectarianism and violence.
Have you noticed a change over the years? Yeah, definitely.
Changed my perception, really, doing this here.
A mix of Protestants and Catholics on the same team really.
We're different, we're the same.
When you cut us, we bleed.
It's all the same thing.
So I made up this flag, which is the green of the Northern Irish football team and the dove of peace.
Midnight soccer is giving one community hope like Sport Relief projects right across the UK.
Eddie hopes his flag will unite rather than divide communities.
He'll soon find out as he's running through Belfast and he's feeling apprehensive about how people will react.
The idea that you can walk into Northern Ireland and put anything to Northern Irish people and say, "What about this?" is just a crazy idea.
But I thought I'd try it because I'm running through it and I'm just saying, "Here's a flag I'm flying with.
I hope you're OK about it.
" Just as he begins, he's joined by some locals.
Adele is Catholic and Tony's Protestant, and I'm an atheist, so this is perfect.
And I'm running with a flag that is not contained in this street and it should be OK.
This is modern Belfast, and feelings still run deep.
He ran through some areas that have seen some very dark times and it was interesting, he had his flag.
We struggle with flags here in Northern Ireland.
Eight hours into the marathon, Tony takes Eddie off route to the Shankill area, which has witnessed some of the worst atrocities seen in Northern Ireland.
To this day, it remains a focal point of the Troubles.
When I was in my senior years in school, there was a big bomb on the Shankill.
An IRA man or two IRA men walked in with a bomb.
One of them was actually killed himself.
I think there was ten people killed.
It's like anywhere, you have to be careful where you go.
There's always going to be areas that you maybe shouldn't step into.
Leaving Shankill, Eddie arrives at an interface area, where the two religious communities meet.
This is the top of Woodvale which is at the top of the Shankill Road, and we've got a chapel here which is Ardoyne Chapel, a Catholic church.
And this huge fence is there to protect the Catholic church.
The Orangemen from Protestant North Belfast march down here and that's a real bone of contention, so this is what we would call one of our biggest interface areas.
It's a shame, because the people around, we do want peace.
This is my area.
This is where I'm from and we do want peace, but unfortunately there is still that underlying tension at times.
And hopefully as we continue to move forward, that will change.
After making so many stops, he's now battling to finish before the sun goes down.
Running out of Belfast, he's joined by several runners, both Protestants and Catholics, uniting to support him and push him on.
The support team wait for Eddie at the finish but no-one's heard from him in over an hour.
What's the time now? Now it is 8.
55 and it's pitch black.
Eddie finishes his 24th marathon, his longest day so far.
A new record of 24 marathons in 28 days in the record time of about 12 hours.
Ah, that was tough, that end.
Sipping a bottle of whisky, he reflects on how difficult this marathon has been.
Just too tired, too long.
Finished after dark, after sunset.
That's too much.
But he's got to get up tomorrow and do it all over again.
He's only halfway through his challenge.
He still got another 19 marathons to the finish, with his toughest tests ahead of him.
I'm tired now.
He has to conquer the Scottish terrain, extreme temperatures and battle the elements.
Bloody miserable.
Dark, windy and rainy.
It's just utter misery.
No longer an unfit comedian, Eddie's running faster, stronger and getting more support than ever before.
Do you go off road in this? But by putting his body under incredible pressure .
.
it's only a matter of time before it all breaks down.
He's got to battle his injuries to get to London on time to finish his incredible mega marathon around the United Kingdom.
If you've been inspired by Eddie's extraordinary challenge, you can make a donation to Sport Relief right now.
Just text EDDIE to 70005, and Sport Relief will get ã5 to help transform the lives of poor and vulnerable people all over the UK and in the world's poorest countries.
Texts cost ã5 plus your standard network message charge and the whole ã5 goes to Sport Relief.