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?

  • toddestan@lemmy.world
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    5 hours ago

    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.

  • HubertManne@piefed.social
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    7 hours 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.

  • solrize@lemmy.ml
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    13 hours ago

    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
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      6 hours 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
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      7 hours 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.

  • SomeAmateur@sh.itjust.works
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    14 hours ago

    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

  • Corporal_Punishment@feddit.uk
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    21 hours ago

    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

  • IWW4@lemmy.zip
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    21 hours ago

    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.

  • RBWells@lemmy.world
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    17 hours ago

    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.

  • gedaliyah@lemmy.world
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    20 hours ago

    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
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      19 hours ago

      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.

  • neidu3@sh.itjust.works
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    21 hours ago

    I’m not familiar with your source material. Are we talking about one continuous segment without stops, or can the walker rest at regular intervals?

    • Lumidaub@feddit.org
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      21 hours ago

      No rest and no falling beneath below 3 miles per hour.

      Edit: under lower than to lesser than (proof-read your posts)

      • Corporal_Punishment@feddit.uk
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        20 hours ago

        I’ve not seen the film yet. I wonder, if there’s no maximum speed can you just sprint ahead and then stop for a little rest?

        • michaelmrose@lemmy.world
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          6 hours ago

          It’s not about the average over time. You are required to keep a continuous pace. If you drop below spec you are given a warning. The fourth warning is a rain of lead in your body. You can lose a warning by keeping pace for one hour and you can accumulate addition warnings until mortality if you don’t get back up to speed after a given warning.

          So with no warnings you have less than 40 seconds to live if you just stop.

            • Lumidaub@feddit.org
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              19 hours ago

              It’s been a while since I read it but the guards also there to make sure you don’t abscond. Which would probably include running ahead of the group.

              • calliope@retrolemmy.com
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                19 hours ago

                Correct, in the book they have multiple groups of soldiers that run ahead (in vehicles) if there is a vanguard.

                I’m reading it too because I read it over a decade ago and making it into a movie seemed stupid to me. So I wanted to know how stupid.

  • CerebralHawks@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    19 hours ago

    Stephen King is really bad with numbers. Apparently in the book they had to constantly walk at 4-5MPH, but they dropped it to 3 for the book. But sometimes King will just pull numbers straight out of his ass and his editor just lets it fly.

    Similar case, in IT, he constantly described Ben as fat, as wider than he was tall, etc., basically fat shaming the kid, but his actual weight was just a bit over average. It’s just in 1958 when the book took place, there really weren’t fat kids, and the “fat kid” was the one who didn’t look starved. Not like now where everyone’s thick and fat really means fat. It’s a matter of perspective, but the fact of the matter is, we might even consider Ben to be normal or underweight compared with the 11 year old boys (what he was) of today. King just liked to fat-shame. (But he also gave Ben a huge member in the train scene. Like shockingly big. So he didn’t do the boy entirely dirty!)