He redefined what it means to run a marathon, that's all. Trying to do this but running maximally would be another feat indeed.
But wow - very impressive none the less.
Ermm, no he didn't. Or if he did I can "redefine" running a Marathon to walking to Starbucks in which case I did 2 Marathons today. I bet there are many people who do a 10-hour Marathon in a day's shopping...
Good for him raising money for charity, but there are people in the world like Dean Karnazes who really do run 50 marathons in 50 days - and Karno has raised huge amounts for charity himself.
(3:40 Marathon runner)
It would certainly be interesting to see how fast he could run one in a few months time once his soreness dies down.
I think the 'nay sayers' should try and do what he did :)
In Europe there's a 100-club for marathoners, for those who complete 100 marathons within their lifetime. In less than 2 months Izzard is almost half-way there. He did in a few weeks what most marathoners dream of for half their lifetime. That's simply amazing and the fact that he increased his speed considerably despite injuries and damage makes it even more amazing.
No, not even close.
What he did is impressive, but stupid. He is doing a lot of damage to his body. If he were trained properly, he wouldn't be having all the physical problems like the missing toenails and the blisters.
Also, anything much longer than a 6 hour marathon is basically a walk (for a middle aged man in decent health). Maybe it's just a pet peeve of mine because I'm a runner, but it just feels like bad "running journalism".
I'm much more impressed by someone who sticks to a proper training plan and finishes a single marathon in a respectable time for his/her age.
If you read the material kicking about from real doctors about this you'll see it's not the case.
It's fairly short term damage: in the long term he's going to see lots of benefits :) (edit: im not sure you could even call it damage, thety are just "flesh wounds". I bet some of us here have worse RSI from sat typing all day!)
The human body is incredibly resilient and it is often truely difficult to really seriously damage it in the long term.
He is overtraining. From the article it sounds like he may have stress fractures already.
Hell, I'll just forward this article to my athletic trainer and sports med friends and see what they say, and post their comments in a followup post.
People racing to the South Pole regularly screw their feet up (with blisters, tears, ripped nails and all sorts) within a few days (or even hours). The foot is quite easily damaged and just as easily repaired :)
As to ligament damage I dont really know because Im not a serious "trainer" but I do cycle regularly and ligament damage I have done in the past has healed in a week or so.
On the other hand after a month or so of not cycling (say on holiday) I find a week of intensive work is great for retoning your body. This sounds like the same - just a little more extreme.
Top ten reasons not to run marathons: http://www.arthurdevany.com/2005/08/top_ten_reasons.html