I have always wanted to see if I could walk 50 kilometers in a day (the longest Olympic event on foot is the 50-km walk, about 31 miles). I haven’t tried it yet, but I have walked a marathon length (26 miles and 385 yards), just to see if I could. (I didn’t see the need to actually enter a marathon to do it). With two side trips, I actually walked a bit over 27 miles. It was the summer of 1991 and I was bored. It took me nine or ten hours, including two short and two long rest breaks. I’m no stranger to walking and hiking. A fifteen- or twenty-mile hike is not very unusual for me. Running? None for me, thanks. I think it was Satchel Paige who said, “Never run when you can walk.”
The world record holder is safe from me for the time being. The 24-hour record for walking is more than 140 miles as of 1994.
What is the longest you have walked or run in one day?
I don’t know how many miles it was but it sure was a long walk. From 42nd and 3rd Ave to the Barnes and Noble on 28th St, then to a restaurant on University. After eating we walked over to J&R Music on Park Row, which is right by the Brooklyn Bridge. Since my walking partner and I both lived in Brooklyn, we walked over the bridge. Once in Brooklyn it seemed a shame to get on a bus after we almost walked all the way home. So we did. Me to 5th Ave and Union and he to Berkley btwn 6th and 7th Aves.
I also participated in and finished several MS Walkathons.
Around 15 miles. With a 50lb backpack on. It was the last day of a week-long backpacking/rock climbing trip, we were heading back to a pre-arranged meeting place to meet with the other groups, and our group leaders had miscalculated our position. Ugh!!
~40 miles, from Fredricksburg, Texas to Mason, Texas, with a pack. I was hitchhiking around the country and nobody would give me a ride on that stretch. I ran out of water and was becoming concerned when Mason appeared on the horizon.
I got a letter of rejection from the college to which I had applied and stormed off to walk and think. I was living in Queens Village (Cross Island Pkwy @ Winchester Ave) in Queens NY at the time. I walked east on Hillside Ave until it joined Jamaica Ave, which in turn became Jericho Turnpike on Long Island, switched to the Long Island Expressway at Hicksville, and turned left (north) and walked up the exit to Huntington when I came to it and walked as far as Huntington Station. Roamed around a bit, then turned around and walked back. 46 miles.
Oh yeah, I got a special conference scheduled and they let me in after all
::walks in and pouts, seeing he can’t tell his special bike story::
Whatever. I’ll tell it anyway.
I had a brand new snazzy bicycle and I was going to work. They told me they didn’t need me that day. Her I am, it’s 7:30 and I’m all roaring to go. So I went on the bike trail near my place of work. 20 miles later I figure I should head home.
Around 40 miles that day on bike, and at a somewhat leisurely pace took me about 3-3.5 hours. I was happy with that.
I’m not exactly sure, but I walked around the base of Uluru (Ayers Rock), then up, across and down Kings Canyon and another area (whose name escapes me) in a day (with a bus trip inbetween). That has to be maybe 20 miles at least.
30 miles. I did the Walk for Hunger all the way around the city of Boston last May. The walk is 20 miles but I opted to walk to and from the finish line which added another 5 miles on each in. I certainly was hungry after all of that.
Well, we used to regularly do all day hikes on camping trips in B.C. (with an hour’s break for lunch) but at a pretty good pace due to a sadist leader. So, same as above, that 50 pound backpack thing for about 8hours, say 24-32km.
well, I think via the straight line on a map it was about 6 miles…
that dosent include the multiple drops and climbs of 2000-3000 feet. 1/2 of that was carrying a liter.
We were awake for 24 hours straight getting him out.
On the other hand, that postal route sounds pretty damn impressive.
Among the various estimates for that distance, this was the lowest, and most as-the-crow-flies. http://www.bikeforyouthvotes.org/press.htm
Say 1776/3(months)4(weeks)(6 mail days) = almost 25 miles a day all summer. I have a new respect for the postal industry, as obsolete as they now are…
60km (40 miles) with an FN-MAG and 550 rounds of ammo. Longest night of my life, yet I can’t remember a single thing that happened during it. Exhaustion will do that to you.
End of Basic Training - 19 years old. No way I’ll ever be capable of doing that again.
30 miles, a sponsored walk for charity in high school. Actually, I think I did a couple of those.
I love going on long day hikes with friends & dogs, but those are probably not more than about 10-15 miles or so, which is plenty up here in the mountains! No packs, though. We make the dogs carry all the stuff; my two dogs each have their own packs!
I’m not a hiker and I’ve never done any sort of a marathon walk. Nor have I ever set out in the morning to see how far I could go by nightfall. However, when I was a young sailor in the early '80s I didn’t own a car and so walked nearly everywhere I went. I did live on a bus route, but I hated the bus and avoided it whenever possible. My apartment was 6 miles from work; so I walked 12 miles most everyday. The shopping center where I did my laundry and bought groceries was about 4.5 miles from my place (in the opposite direction), so once a week I walked 12 miles (to and from work) plus 9 miles (to and from the shopping center) for a total of 21 miles. BTW, to and from the shopping center I pulled a seabag strapped to one of those wheeled luggage dollies. The seabag carried my dirty laundry on the outward trip and my clean folded laundry and my groceries on the homeward trip. I also walked on my days off – usually to the library in the morning (about an 8 mile round trip) and into downtown Newport in the afternoon (a 10 mile commute, not counting the several miles of walking around town I would do). So, during that period on my life I was walking around 20ish miles a day. Give or take a day. BTW, I always took a book and read as I walked.
