In Stephen King’s novella The Long Walk, originally pubslihed under the pseudonym Richard Bachman, the characters engage in a ghastly sporting event known as, well, The Long Walk.
The rules of The Long Walk are simple; 100 competitors, beginning near the Canadian border in Maine, walk south along the highway, probably US-1. Each competitor’s speed is carefully monitored at all times. You must maintain a constant minimum speed (King uses 4 MPH, which seems awfully fast to me, but the number doesn’t matter - we can reduce it if need be) and if you drop below that speed for a number of seconds you are issued a warning. (Warning! Warning, Number 47!) You can get a maximum of three warnings. If you drop below the minimum speed after receiving three warnings, you are shot dead on the spot.
You can see the motivation to keep walking.
The game is simple; the last person alive wins. They win any wish they want that can be granted on this earth; a billion dollars, fame, fortune, whatever you like.
Other rule notes:
You can have warnings taken back by maintaining the minimum speed uninterrupted for a full hour; if you get a warning, then walk okay for an hour, the warning is reset. So it’s theoretically possible to get dozens of warnings but never get shot, if they’re spaced out okay.
You are supplied with basic rations three times a day, on a belt you can cinch around your waist, and all the water you want.
You cannot physically interfere with the other competitors. (You can freely talk amongst yourself, though, and use smack talk if you think it’ll work.) You cannot leave the course. There is no excuse for stopping, even if you have to take a crap. The Long Walk is not stopped or held up for any reason whatsoever, and goes day and night until a winner is determined. The route is cleared, so you’re not dodging cars or anything like that and fans may not interfere with your progress.
The only standard that matters is maintaining the MINIMUM speed. You don’t get any credit for walking really fast; there is no finish line, no benefit to being ahead of anyone else, and no set course length. It is a pure test of endurance and the walk continues until 99 people are shot. It is theoretically possible to be the last one in line for most of the event and win.
You can bring stuff with you, if you want; a knapsack, a fanny pack, food if you don’t like the rations, your iPod, anything you like **as long as you carry it yourself while walking ** and you don’t break the other rules.
In King’s story, all the competitors are boys under the age of 20. He never explains why this is. The competitors, curiously enough for probably typical for teenagers, don’t really show up very much prepared for the grueling test. Some make bad footwear choices; some bring sandwiches, some don’t. None are said to be wearing anything we’d think of as athletic gear. A few think to bring rain ponchos but most do not. There is no mention of anyone thinking to bring medicine of any kind. Although King makes reference to shoes sometimes falling apart (which I find exceptionally unlikely; the race is implied to last 3-4 days and a shoe will not fall apart that easily) nobody brings an extra pair.
So let’s say we bring the Long Walk to life. You decide to compete. We will open this up to any age or sex. How are you going to win? Let’s say it’s going to take place in June, so you have time to train. How do you train? How do you prepare in the days before the Long Walk? What do you wear, and what kind of stuff will you bring with you? (Remember; weight is a concern!) What’s your strategy? Do you interact with your commpetitors?
Those are some shitty odds. I would think you would have to be pretty desperate to be willing to compete in something like that…the first thing that comes to mind is a parent who’s kid is dying of cancer or something. I don’t want anything badly enough to risk those odds.
Having said that, some sort of alertness meds (maybe just caffeine pills, I know little about it) and probably some non-drowsy pain killers would come with me. Yes, an MP3 player with a good battery life. That’s about it. Comfortable walking clothes that dry quickly (no poncho for me).
You may shoot a couple but their are soldiers on the half-track following you, with rifles. They will find it fairly easy to shoot you. And they are the most passionless soldiers ever.
I wouldn’t join it, of course. But you’d have to train, walking. As a teen, I was in extraordinarily good shape, dancing for an hour + daily and more on weekends will do that for you… I don’t think I would have survived, though. You need something more than physical endurance. You need mental discipline, and inner strength. I’d go nuts.
This is probably why the book contestants were so ill-prepared. They obviously were already in situations so bad that this seemed like a good idea.
I was thinking of the Long Walk just the other day, RickJay! My husband and I had gone for a fairly long walk in the neighborhood and I was telling him about the book. Just pretending to be a competitor made me instantly more tired (on the other hand, the sight of a real gun would probably perk my ass right up).
I don’t think it would be possible without drugs. I hear stories of people staying up for days on meth, since it’s life or death, I’d lower my standards.
But first, I’d kick my ass. Why did I decide to compete? Was I on drugs or something?
Anyone know what the record is for longest continuous walk?
I jog recreationally, and occasionally meet and chat in the locker room with a guy who (recreationally) does ultras. Last year he did a 24-hour run. Exactly what it describes. Run/walk for 24 hours, whoever goes the furthest wins. You can rest, sleep however long you want.
I think he went 80-some miles (I think he said the record was over 150.) I expressed surprise, saying it would seem to me that if I were walking 3 miles an hour, I could keep going almost indefinitely. He said you just couldn’t believe how tired he got after 15 or so hours of constant motion. Surprised me.
He also has commented on how boring 50-milers and such can be. One of the toughest things is to mentally convince yourself to keep plodding along hour after hour.
This guy is in his mid-50s, and tho not a world class athlete, in pretty good shape. I mean, he runs several marathons a year, but generally finishes them around 5 hours.
In the situation you describe, I’d say drugs (speed) would probably be number one. Maybe an I-Pod for distraction - as well as possible benefit of music to affect my mood, or maintain pace. Maybe some kind of pedometer/metronome to confirm my pace. Good footwear - reasonably new but broken in, and some good well-fitting athletic gear - a goretex shell and pants you could slip on or off and adjust as necessary, a hood or a hat with a brim, sunglasses. Generous application of Glide to prevent chafing.
This is one of my favorite SK stories ever. Reading it makes me feel so tired. I agree, though, that 4 mph is pretty fast. In the book it’s presented as a normal walking speed but that’d be more like 3 mph.
No, you either hold it or stop and crap on the side of the road, and take warnings. You can get three warnings without dying, so then you just have to maintain your pace until you lose your warnings. They actually do describe one kid in the book who does this.
Well, that’s one thing I’d do then. Wear a diaper. Also eat food that would cause constipation.
Seriously though, while the book is entertaining, the premise is ridiculous. Why would anyone sign up? What totalitarian state, no matter how crazy and evil, would do something like this?
If I recall correctly, and it has been a while since I read this story, it is exactly that, a crazy and evil totalitarian society. Overpopulation, high unemployment, not many opportunities for young men in late adolescence/early twenties. My take on the story is that it is a satirical commentary on selective service, Mr. King has not pulled too many punches with regard to his opinions of the politics of the Viet Nam police action.
I would not join The Long Walk, hypothetically or not. The ending of that tale is chilling. jmo.
See, I thought about that too - but what would the potential ramifications of serious constipation be? If it could cause cramps, weakness of any sort, or other debilitating symptoms, it could kill you.
Cheesesteak, you can’t interfere with the other competitors. Shooting them definitely counts as “interference.”
I agree with those who said “drugs.” I’d opt for MDMA (ecstasy) rather than meth, but either would curb your need for food and allow you to stay awake for a couple of days straight.
Now we need to have a thread on how we’d win King’s Running Man game.
Still haven’t found anything directly on point, but some fun stuff here.
I think it may be a bit dated, but it gives the 24-hr record as 183+ miles.
And it discusses some guy who tried to run 3.6 miles every hour for 100 hours. Skimming it, I think he “overslept” after a fortnight or so, but continued on to complete 3600 miles over the entire 1000 hours.
Perhaps because they’ve outlawed everything else. King implies that the Long Walk is the World Series, the Super Bowl, the Stanley Cup, and the NBA championship all rolled into one. Billions are wagered on it, crowds line the roads to see it; and over all is the Major, whom nobody wants to screw with. Remember, his soldiers can and do have the authority to shoot spectators and animals who attempt to interfere with the Long Walk, and everybody seems to accept this as normal.
I imagine that teenagers volunteer for it because at that age, they feel they’re invincible. We see this today; they take silly chances because they’re convinced no harm will come of it–harm only happens to “other people.” Also, the kids in the Long Walk get a chance (albeit a brief one) in the spotlight: as long as they keep walking at the assigned pace, no spectator can interfere with them, they are on TV, they are heroes whom the crowd is cheering on. Pretty heady stuff to a kid who may well have spent most of his life failing in some way or other (McVries’ story is an example of this), or whose personality is such that he has no friends (Barkovitch), or who just wants some attention (Pearson plans to write a book).
How would I prepare for it? Well, assuming I was a teen and not as old as I currently am, I’d probably do little differently than the kids in the book: comfortable walking shoes, good socks, maybe some of my own snacks instead of the concentrates the kids officially get. I don’t think I’d use any kind of alertness pills; when you come down off those, you come down hard and if you’re not the last man standing by that point, you never will be. Well, at least you’d be out so well, you’d never know you were being shot. I’d practice walking distances ahead of time, sure. Outside of all that though, I’m unsure what else I’d do.
The other factor was that in the totalitarian society King hinted at, winning the Long Walk is symbolicly the only chance a person has to escape their established position. The Major’s in charge; like Hitler or Stalin or Mao, he’s set up a system where the government controls everyone’s life. Anyone who steps out of line is eliminated. The Long Walk is the one opportunity for somebody to take control and get what they want instead of accepting what the state wants to give them.
At the beginning of the race, I sit down. I recieve my warning, and continue to sit there until everyone else is dead. Works unless you can get more than one warning for a single stop.
There doesn’t appear to be anything against the rules for a friend to drive next to you in an RV so you’ve got somewhere to store food and use the toilet. Actually, I don’t suppose there’s anything specific enough in the rules to stop me walking on the spot in an RV while it drives south, since I am moving at above 4 mph, in the right direction, while walking. I suppose technically you might be able to set up some kind of rig suspending you from the ceiling on a treadmill, so you aren’t forced to walk with your complete weight.
Can I hire people to shoot the other competitors for me? My wish could then involve amnesty for the murders as well as huge pots of cash.
I imagine i’d be shot for smart-assery within a couple of minutes of any plan.
You will continue getting warnings every minute or whatever, until you get shot.
Your RV plan would probably be covered under the rule that says you’re not allowed to accept anything from spectators. Not water, not cookies, nothing. So you’d get shot.
