In this chapter, Ray reveals that the guys have only been walking for 20 hours or so. In this amount of time, they have walked 80 miles without sleeping or even taking a single break to rest (201). I know this is fiction but it shocked me that they had walked such a distance in this short amount of time and only 27 of the 100 guys have died.
I looked up how much the average, healthy person can walk in a day. According to About Health, a healthy person with no training should not exceed 7 miles in a day. The average person will start to get painful blisters after 10-12 miles.
I also looked into what happens if you don't sleep for a day. Everday Health claims that after 24 hours, people really start to suffer from lack of sleep. Their judgement is affected, memory is impaired, bad decision making, and poor coordination. In addition, people become more emotional, can't pay attention, and have impaired hearing. The guys are all starting to show symptoms of lack of sleep. Some manage to sleep (sort of) while walking, but it isn't enough to sustain a human for long. Ray mentions feeling distant from the other guys and at one point he doesn't realize where he is and worries that he got lost from the group.
The remaining guys in the walk are growing dangerously tired and I am interested to see what happens next. But the combination of excessive walking and no sleep seems like fatal combo that won't end well.
I was also really shocked when Garraty said they'd walked more than 80 miles. It seems like they're all sleepy and losing their drive to keep going. I'm starting to see all the things Everyday Health says people go through from lack of sleep displayed in the walkers. In chapter 7 especially, as the walkers are approaching the 100 mile mark it seems like the walk is becoming too much to bear, specifically for Garraty. Not only is Garraty really tired but he's also enduring physical pain. It says, "Garraty's legs felt rubbery and unsteady. The state of numb weariness his flesh had more or less settled into was broken by unexpected darning-needles of pain that drove through his feet and legs, threatening to make his muscles knot and cramp" (158). I'm also interested to see what's going to happen. It says that they're going to be able to stop at 9pm to get food and drinks, after walking 100 miles, so hopefully that will give them some energy to keep going.
ReplyDeleteI did not read of them stopping for anything.The Race stops only one time.They are given food at 9AM. The soldiers pass them out to the Walkers.There was talk of a bridge washed out in the rain but it was fixed before the walkers got to it
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