Stage 0: Planning to Run across America

Planning to Run across America


The year of coronavirus was a big running year for me. I ran in the Great Virtual Race across Tennessee (GVRAT). This was 600 miles from May to August. When I got done with the race I figured out that if I kept going at a reasonable pace, I would be able to run the year in miles. I set the new goal of 2020 miles in 2020 and reached this in early December. I finished the year with 2177 miles. This made me think about what it would take to run across the whole continental USA. 

There is a long history of people running across the country. I read about an early race in a book about C.C. Pyles where people averaged 50+ miles a day in antiquated footwear and clothing. 
There are many routes across the country but since my attempt would be a virtual run, I chose to start from near where we used to live in Los Angeles and end near where we lived in Boston. According to Google Maps, it would take 2992 miles to get there on foot. If I put in 40 miles per week, that would be 75 weeks, pretty close enough to a year and a half. At 9.5 minutes per mile, that’s about 474 hours.


Route Map across USA

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