Eddie Izzard for Sports Personality of the Year 2009

Eddie Izzard had always wanted to do a big, physical challenge of some kind, so when Sport Relief asked him if he’d like to do something to help raise money for people living really tough lives – he jumped at the chance.

With just five weeks’ training under his belt, Eddie set off from London on 27th July and has been going ever since, running a marathon every single day, six days a week – for a total of seven long weeks.

Eddie Izzard has just run around the whole of the UK for Sport Relief - a mind-blowing 43 marathons in 51 days.

He ran at least 27 miles per day, taking just one day off per week, and covered an absolutely staggering 1,100 miles on his route - across England, Wales, up into Scotland and over to Northern Ireland.

As you might expect, the physical toll on him has been huge - he’s had blisters galore and lost two toenails from pounding the pavements all day long. After a day’s running, he found it hard to eat – which he needed to do a lot of to keep going – and even staying awake was a challenge, so he was in bed by 9:30 most nights.