this post was submitted on 28 Sep 2025
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I watched the long walk and now I'm reading the book. I was wondering, how credible is the distance? It's 300 to 400 miles. What would happen to your body on the way?

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[–] Corporal_Punishment@feddit.uk 48 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (3 children)

Ultra-marathon runners will typically run/jog for over 100 miles without stopping (except for a piss), and the hard-core ones will just piss themselves anyway.

With decent footwear and training the only thing stopping you from walking will be your need for sleep which will come at the 48-36 hour mark. But even then I suppose the desire to not be shot will keep you going further.

At an average walking pace of 4mph, you can walk 300 miles in just over 3 days without stopping

[–] blarghly@lemmy.world 16 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

and the hard-core ones will just piss themselves anyway.

If you're a guy, you can walk and piss at the same time. Just walk sideways and whip your dick out.

[–] CrazyHorse@lemmy.cafe 17 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Walking backwards works too!

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[–] LadyButterfly@piefed.blahaj.zone 9 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

God that's a long distance! It's beyond me

[–] Corporal_Punishment@feddit.uk 5 points 2 weeks ago
[–] treadful@lemmy.zip 4 points 2 weeks ago

Like Dean Karzanes. Dude can run almost indefinitely.

[–] kaidenshi@lemmy.world 36 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

It's been theorized that human beings' ability to walk or jog long distances is what brought us out of our primitive era and made us the most advanced species on the planet.

https://www.nature.com/articles/nature03052

[–] HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club 12 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Yep. It brought about a new hunting strategy that a lot of prey didn't have a counter strategy for.

[–] Wytch@lemmy.zip 17 points 2 weeks ago

Sweating is OP

[–] IWW4@lemmy.zip 32 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

It is unknown what the the max distance is. Terry fox ran a marathon every day over the course of 140+ days and ran around 3500 miles ….. and he was missing a leg when he did it.

[–] AtariDump@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Was he running to find his leg?

Sort of, or the legs of others? Ran to raise money for cancer research and awareness, he's basically the closest thing we have to a secular Saint in mainstream Canadian culture. The Terry Fox Run is a staple of grade school life.

https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/terry-fox

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[–] solrize@lemmy.ml 20 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (5 children)

I watched the long walk and now I’m reading the book. I was wondering, how credible is the distance? It’s 300 to 400 miles. What would happen to your body on the way?

I don't know what happens in the long walk, but if you mean nonstop, 300-400 miles isn't happening unless maybe as a death march. OTOH for someone who is in shape, 300-400 miles with stops for sleep and provisions is certainly doable. The Appalachian Trail is 2200 miles and lots of people through-hike it. It typically takes 5 to 7 months though some do it faster. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appalachian_Trail

Oh man, the long walk sounds nuts. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Long_Walk_(novel)

Sleep deprivation, no pooping, etc. Yeah, I found Stephen King to be a horrible writer and never understood his appeal.

[–] Professorozone@lemmy.world 10 points 2 weeks ago

I think he's a great writer that frequently drops the ball with the ending and has a few big flops.

However, he wrote the Green Mile and the Shawshank Redemption, which are awesome. He also wrote Thinner, which I quite liked. I recently read, I have to remember the date 11-23-69 I think it was. That was pretty good. I think many people liked the Shining. I personally never saw or read it though. So personally I have mixed feelings.

[–] einkorn@feddit.org 8 points 2 weeks ago

300-400 miles isn't happening unless maybe as a death march.

He-he, I guess you typed that before reading the wiki page.

[–] RubberDuck@lemmy.world 5 points 2 weeks ago

But they do poop in the book and the movie. In quite graphic detail lol

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[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 16 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

Over 2000 miles, barefoot.

But Americans collapse after halfway across the parking lot.

[–] SomeAmateur@sh.itjust.works 9 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] otp@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 weeks ago

Most are at airports, but it's amazing to me that number one is a shopping mall in Canada... albeit Canada's Texas.

The other non-airports were media-related amusement parks (mostly Disney)

[–] pinball_wizard@lemmy.zip 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

"Paweł undertook this challenge to raise money for the Diamond Soul Foundation, a charity he co-founded which supports people in their recovery from addiction. They also organize free one-week camps in Sicily for underprivileged children."

Very cool.

That's incredible 😲

[–] toddestan@lemmy.world 15 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

If you use the book's pace of 4 MPH, which is actually what many people would consider a brisk walk, 300-400 miles would take 75-100 hours, or around 3-4 days. That's a long time to stay up without sleeping, let alone being physically active the entire time. I'd guess someone who is really fit might be able to do half of that before collapsing, with most people probably not making past the first 24 hours.

Someone who was using drugs or doping might be able to do it, but even then I'd be skeptical.

I did wonder that they walked for days and hadn't done training for it. I just can't see it's possible

[–] gedaliyah@lemmy.world 11 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

The Appalachian Trail is about 2000 miles and a lot if people walk that. Worth a Google search. There are documentaries, memoirs, plenty of before/after photos, etc.

[–] village604@adultswim.fan 15 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

They mean without stopping.

If you're unfamiliar with the Long Walk, it's a story where a bunch of kids are in a contest to see who can walk the longest. If you stop walking, you get shot.

[–] feannag@sh.itjust.works 4 points 2 weeks ago

Ooohh. I definitely read that first as The Long Walk about Slawomir Rawicz's escape from the gulag to India.

[–] gedaliyah@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago
[–] RBWells@lemmy.world 7 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Without rest? I don't know. I could walk a marathon distance with the right shoes but would need to stop to pee. Two marathons? Probably not without training some months, and where would I find the time? Also, if it was in the day here, risk of heat exhaustion is pretty high at midday & afternoon.

300 miles? No.

[–] Trail@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago (5 children)

Assuming male, because it's the internet afterall, you don't need to stop walking to pee. Just saying.

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[–] SomeAmateur@sh.itjust.works 7 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

There was a pilrimage/challenge a friend of mine went on. It was walking 20 miles each day for 3 days for a total of 60 mi/96.5 km. That was in upstate NY where there are plenty of hills to keep it interesting

Blisters, chafing and fatigue is common but many people do that every year

[–] Drekaridill@feddit.is 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I don't know what math you're using but 20 miles is 32.2 km

[–] Trail@lemmy.world 8 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Now multiply this by 3 and you will understand what he meant.

[–] SomeAmateur@sh.itjust.works 6 points 2 weeks ago

Yes you are both correct, I'll fix myself

[–] QuinnyCoded@sh.itjust.works 6 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (2 children)

your body is designed to keep going at all costs because we used to run around and chase things evolutionarily. iirc your body will start to digest your muscles in any sort of attempt to just keep going for a little longer

iirc at least. This knowledge comes from a "explain the joke" subreddit

[–] Qwel@sopuli.xyz 4 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

The body is not designed to keep effort going at all costs. You will be informed when you have a cramp, because you should slow down and wait it out before continuing. The whole point of pain is to react to broken stuff, usually by stopping using it.

It will however keep life going at all costs, sometimes digesting replaceable muscles into energy for non-replaceable elements. But it's more about starvation resistance than about chasing. It could also be the case if we were a specie of static filter feeders

A lot of the human body has been affected by long walks and runs, and we do have (well, not me in particular) over-average stamina developped presumably for hunting. It's just the specific exemple of muscle digestion that I'm going after here

this knowledge comes from, uh... idk :3

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[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 4 points 2 weeks ago

I mean I walk like 4 miles an hour when fresh so that would be like 100 hours if I could keep it up which im not sure I could keep it up for more than a few hours but like even assuming I could that would be over 4 days with no sleep which I doubt I can do. At some point I would be shambling like a zombie from the walking dead.

[–] etchinghillside@reddthat.com 3 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

The skin on your feet would be doing some lovely things and everything that could chafe would.

What would happen to your feet exactly?

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