In the last 15 seconds of Eddie Izzard’s 25th marathon in as many days, two men tried to enter the studio in London where she was attempting her latest feat of endurance.

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“No, you can’t come in,” she called out, as she waved them away. “Please, don’t come in. It’s COVID-safe in here!”

After more shooing action from the British comedian and Emmy-winning actress, the men finally turned away. But the little moment of drama highlighted how very different this particular marathon effort has been for Izzard from the other ones she’s completed before. In the month of January, Izzard, 58, who has been openly transgender since her 20s and recently shared she’s genderfluid, successfully ran 32 marathons in 31 days, surpassing her goal of raising £200,000 (almost $275,000).

“They were just some merry or drunk men who decided they’d come in and say hello,” Izzard told Runner’s World the next day, while in the 16th mile of her 26th marathon. “I couldn’t quite work out what their motivation was. We have barriers you’d have to climb over so it was kind of obvious they weren’t meant to be here.”

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Izzard is not unfamiliar to marathon challenges. In 2009, she ran 43 marathons in 51 days. In 2016, she ran 27 marathons in 27 days in South Africa to honor the late Nelson Mandela’s 27 years in prison. In 2020, she ran 29 marathons in 29 days across Europe. But unlike the previous efforts, this one—running 31 marathons in 31 days, a challenge that turned into 32 marathons when she decided to run two back-to-back on the final day—was confined to a treadmill in a room inside London’s Riverside Studios.

“It can be freezing outside or it can be boiling outside, but it’s a physical stimulus either way,” Izzard said. “There can be negatives and positives to being inside. A treadmill is just so boring.”

To combat that boredom during her marathons, which took her about six hours each day, Izzard talked to various people, from the internet’s favorite online coach Joe Wicks to director Stephen Fry to actors Bob Saget and George Clooney, on a livestream. “I need the stimulus, otherwise I couldn’t do it just on a treadmill,” she added.

Using Zwift, Izzard started each day’s marathon in a different European country. On the 26th day, when she talked to Runner’s World, the Dutch flag hung next to the EU flag she placed in the cupholder of the treadmill. A simulation pack of animated runners in Amsterdam plays on a video behind her.

“It’s a time of great separation in the UK,” she said. “Some people have said, ‘Let’s separate from our continent,’ and there’s more than half of us saying, ‘No, let’s stay.’ The latest polling says about 10 percent more wanted to stay in Europe.”

So, in support of this sentiment, Izzard, who has ambitions to become a Member of Parliament, ran in the same cities in which she ran her 29 marathons across Europe last year—well, virtually, at least. She also added in Osaka, Japan, because that’s where Mizuno, which has sponsored Izzard, is based; Yemen, where she was born; and New York City.

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As with all of Izzard’s other great endeavors, she set a goal to raise a large sum for charity—this time, a target of £200,000, which will be distributed to charities working with disadvantaged and vulnerable people during the COVID-19 pandemic, such as Walking with the Wounded, Care International, and Covenant House New York City. You can still donate to her cause via her Crowdfunder.

And just like previous challenges, Izzard wanted to spread a message—this time, an encouragement to ‘Make Humanity Great Again,’ which she acknowledges as a play on former U.S. President Donald Trump’s campaign slogan, ‘Make America Great Again.’ She doesn’t mince her words about Trump, even while catching her breath.

“He used lies, like Joseph Goebbels used lies in the Nazi Party. The bigger the lie, the more people seemed to believe him, so ‘make humanity great again’ includes everyone in America,” she said. “There are 7.8 billion of us, and a fair chance in life should be the right of every person in the world. So that’s what I’m fighting for.”

Izzard’s efforts didn’t end with each marathon, though. When many would plop on a couch, feet up, Izzard performed a virtual comedy set, sometimes even in a foreign language like German or French. It’s all in the hopes that whoever sees her is impressed enough to take part in spreading the message further or donating to the fundraiser.

Aside from the mental fortitude this feat required (“You’ve just got to hang in there. There’s no easy way about it,” she said) and the physical struggle (she lost a toenail during her second-to-last day of running), Izzard worked with a nutritionist to ensure she was getting the right amount of carbs and protein to fuel her runs. There wasn’t much time for recovery either—Izzard doesn’t really stretch much anyway.

But one thing she does do before each run is take a knee for Black Lives Matter. Izzard has been consistent in sharing the message of equality since she first started running the challenges in 2009, which was for the UK charity Sport Relief. It’s also why she has the flags with her when she runs, a nod to our common humanity.

When it comes to her own personal achievement, she said it comes after, when the challenge has been completed and she’s reached her mileage and monetary goal.

“I don’t like doing it, while I’m doing it,” she says. “But when I’m finished, I’m pleased.”


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Nadia Neophytou

Nadia Neophytou is a freelance journalist from South Africa, based in New York City, who writes for a variety of publications, from The Hollywood Reporter to Deadline, Quartz, CNN, and more. When she’s not interviewing movie stars and musicians, she’s running—or talking about running in a video series she created called The Rundown, where she interviews people she admires on the run.