From:
http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/top1002.html
#18: The 26-Day Marathon
26 day marathon runner In 1981 the Daily Mail ran a story about an
unfortunate Japanese long-distance runner, Kimo Nakajimi, who had
entered the London Marathon but, on account of a translation error,
thought that he had to run for 26 days, not 26 miles. The Daily Mail
reported that Nakajimi was now somewhere out on the roads of England,
still running, determined to finish the race. Supposedly various people
had spotted him, though they were unable to flag him down. The translation
error was attributed to Timothy Bryant, an import director, who said, "I
translated the rules and sent them off to him. But I have only been
learning Japanese for two years, and I must have made a mistake. He
seems to be taking this marathon to be something like the very long
races they have over there."