One day, Forrest just started running. He ran for 3 years, 2 months, 14 days and 16 hours. He slept, when he needed to, he ate when he was hungry and he went to, you know, when he needed to.
How far did he run during this time?
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Given that he was supposed to be mentally challenged, that all he did was eat, sleep, and runm and that he "just felt like it." It seems unlikely that he had any reason (if even the ability) to count the days minutes and hours. Also, he had to use an ATM frequently unless people gave him food for free. Finally, he was running slow enough for a lot of groupies to keep up with him. – WGroleau Aug 28 '18 at 17:48
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6You forgot that when he had to go, he went. – MooseBoys Aug 28 '18 at 20:21
2 Answers
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Based on different information given in the film and in the script and on filming locations, the site Centives calculated that Forrest Gump ran 15248 miles (24539 km), crossing the United States five times, before he decided to go home.
Another estimation can be found on theweek.com. It totals 19024 miles (30616 km). The route of the first two years looks like this
Which is close to the route shown in the film:
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5Given the time he took and the estimated distance from the source, that makes for a rather meager (in terms of running) 0.8735 km/h average speed, or about 21 km (13 miles) per day. Over the course of 3 years this is, of course, quite a distance. – Ian Aug 27 '18 at 14:40
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@Ian They address this a little bit in the linked article on theweek.com. – Mouvier Aug 27 '18 at 14:46
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4@Ian I am tempted to ask a follow-up question whether this is in any way realistic. – xLeitix Aug 27 '18 at 15:01
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1@xLeitix you might get a good answer for that on https://sports.stackexchange.com/ – Robert Columbia Aug 27 '18 at 15:58
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2@xLeitix Terry Fox averaged 23 miles per day and he only had one leg. So it is probably realistic in that it is plausible for Gump to run that much. Though another runner could have run more. – Brad Aug 27 '18 at 17:55
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How come neither of those estimates includes the return trip? – BlueRaja - Danny Pflughoeft Aug 27 '18 at 18:28
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1@BlueRaja-DannyPflughoeft Did he run back home? Maybe he took a flight or used a car. – Mouvier Aug 27 '18 at 18:50
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2@xLeitix Many dedicated runners and marathoners train 10-15 miles per day year-round for years on end in their spare time. Cross-USA record attempts cover 60+ miles per day. If anything, these estimates might be unrealistically low -- what was he doing the rest of the time if only running 3-5 hours per day? – usul Aug 27 '18 at 19:10
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1@BlueRaja-DannyPflughoeft He stopped running one day. Then he says, how long he‘s been running so the way back does not count. – Seriyuko Aug 27 '18 at 20:02
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The distance probably could have been a lot longer, assuming that he didn’t pay a whole lot of attention to the routes he was taking or whether they were the best way to reach wherever next was. – KRyan Aug 27 '18 at 21:15
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@xLeitix On Strava (the app I use to record my running and swimming) there are people on the leaderboards with over 5,400 miles ran so far this year alone (and we're only in August). Going off that, doing 19,000 miles over 3 years is definitely achievable, but, would still be considered an incredible feat by most. – Charles Aug 28 '18 at 05:28
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@usul Much of the territory he chose to run is not flat. You can't run meridian lines, you have to run the surface. West Virginians say it would be America's 3rd largest state if you ironed it out flat, and it's not even in real mountains! – Harper - Reinstate Monica Aug 28 '18 at 09:33
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@Harper Except the other states would grow if you ironed them, too. Also, even if you only ironed WV, I find the claim hard to believe: even a 45% slope is only about 40% longer than the line it projects onto flat ground, so ironing shouldn't make much difference. – David Richerby Aug 28 '18 at 13:02
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If both estimates differ by more than 5000km, you might not want to give distances with km precision. – Eric Duminil Aug 29 '18 at 09:33
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This is a trick question because either he lied about how long he run or was unintentionally confused.
Forrest supposedly started running when Jimmy Carter collapsed (that possible heart attack scare) while running his six mile race in October (I think it was on the 1st), 1979; and he stopped when Ronald Reagan assassination attempt took place on March 21, 1981. That's not even one and a half a year, and considerably shorter than 3 years, 2 months, 14 days and 16 hours.
Marek Cerajewski
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1I don't know why this was downvoted, unless it's actually inaccurate. I don't remember the film well enough to tell. – Wildcard Aug 28 '18 at 06:26
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6@Wildcard the start date is supported by the same source that the other, highly upvoted answer uses. As for the end date, going by Wikipedia, the end date is almost certainly in or before 1981 (Wiki says: 'Back to the present (the "present" in the film being 1981, as seen from a car and on a bus, and televised footage of Ronald Reagan's escape from assassination), ...'). But even if Gump lied or misremembered the duration, IMO that doesn't affect how the question of distance should be answered. – muru Aug 28 '18 at 07:26
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1@muru Answering the questions depends on a host of suppositions so there is no logical answer that all will agree on - you might just as well argue instead over the maximum number of angels that might fit on the tip of a pin. Such problems then, rather than being dismissed, automatically assume existence of angels in physical forms.
Then should you divide that distance into 3 years, 2 months, 14 days and 16 hours or into around 18 months? With the latter, the average daily distance more than doubles, turning the overall distance into the impossible angels. The book author's error.
– Marek Cerajewski Aug 28 '18 at 16:06 -
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