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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[–] LemmyKnowsBest@lemmy.world 1 points 22 hours ago

When I was younger I could walk all day with no pain or fatigue or limitations. In 40s & 50s now feet & hips & low back scream "stop!" around mile 9.

[–] QuinnyCoded@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day 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 3 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours 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

[–] Psythik@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Our ability to keep carrying on is what makes us unique. Most animals will eventually get so tired that their body literally shuts down and they can't proceed any further. Early humans used this to their advantage when hunting.

[–] toddestan@lemmy.world 15 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days 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

[–] Corporal_Punishment@feddit.uk 42 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days 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 13 points 2 days 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 15 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Walking backwards works too!

[–] njm1314@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

A regular Plennie Wingo

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

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

[–] treadful@lemmy.zip 3 points 2 days ago

Like Dean Karzanes. Dude can run almost indefinitely.

[–] kaidenshi@lemmy.world 33 points 2 days ago

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

[–] IWW4@lemmy.zip 29 points 2 days ago (2 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 days 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

[–] reptar@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Just learned about Terry Fox from Do Go On. What a legend

[–] IWW4@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 day ago

Absolute legion!!!

[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 14 points 2 days ago (3 children)

Over 2000 miles, barefoot.

But Americans collapse after halfway across the parking lot.

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

[–] gedaliyah@lemmy.world 12 points 2 days 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 days 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.

[–] gedaliyah@lemmy.world 5 points 2 days ago
[–] feannag@sh.itjust.works 4 points 2 days ago

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

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 4 points 2 days 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.

[–] RBWells@lemmy.world 7 points 2 days 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 days ago (2 children)

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

[–] CandleTiger@programming.dev 2 points 2 days ago (2 children)

You really do. Have you tried it?

[–] Trail@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] CandleTiger@programming.dev 1 points 1 day ago

I guess different people have different special talents.

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[–] SomeAmateur@sh.itjust.works 6 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days 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 days 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 days ago (1 children)

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

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

Yes you are both correct, I'll fix myself

[–] etchinghillside@reddthat.com 3 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days 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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