On Twitter, I used to follow quite a few celebrities. If I think they're funny, and say funny or interesting things on Twitter, I'll follow. If not, they're gone. This is what happened when they all started playing a barely funny game among each other one night.
You may or may not have heard of him, but one of these celebrity Twitter casualties was @eddieizzard. Eddie Izzard is a British comedian who's got a large following over there, but not near as much here. I was aware of him because of peoples' mentions online, but had never seen any of his work until he starred a few years ago on the FX show, The Riches, which was a great, unique show. Like most great, unique shows, it was cancelled before its time.
On Twitter, he was one of the first people I followed. Unlike most celebrities, he seemed to be pretty down to earth. He posted about visiting with his father, including pictures, and I thought that was neat. Then the little game happened, and I stopped following.
Sure he's a bit hard to handle if you're not used to, but he is pretty funny. He's also a bit overweight, as evidenced by the above picture.
So today I was on Twitter, and as they tend to do, someone did a retweet from Eddie Izzard, which means they reposted what he had posted:
Got to Kendal, in the Lake District and finished my 17th marathon for sport relief. Tomorrow my 18th and then a day off http://bit.ly/rKdep
This intrigued me. 17th marathon? Tomorrow's his 18th? Eddie Izzard? The guy in the above picture?
Come to find out, there's a charity in England loosely connected to Comic Relief called Sport Relief, and Eddie Izzard is running to support the cause. Not just running, but he's running 30 marathons in 30 days.
Things like this are pretty common in the running world, of course, but typically they're done by people who are known for that sort of thing. Dean Karnazes, for example, is famous for being the "Ultramarathon Man", who a few years ago famously ran 50 marathons in 50 states, in 50 days. He called it 50-50-50, made a video, and wrote a book. The thing is, Dean Karnazes trains all night every night and has about 8% body fat.
Eddie Izzard, on the other hand, is like many of us runners. He's a bit overweight, in his mid-40s, yet is out there getting it done. Not only is he getting it done, but he's doing very well at it. Remember earlier, I mentioned that he's currently on his 17th marathon distance. He's on his way across the UK, and when he's done, he will have covered well over 1000 miles.
I am truly awed by this. Not only is he raising money for charity, but he's proving that yes, a middle aged, slightly overweight runner can get it done.
We're all in this together. Let's go for a run.
