Forrest Gump’s Running Route
May 14, 2012 in Editorial, Top
He ran to the end of town, the end of the county, the end of the state, and to the end of the coast. Then he ran back a few times. But how far did Forrest Gump run? And for how long? Centives decided to find out.
We know that he began in his fictional hometown of Greenbow Alabama on October 1, 1979. The date is given away when a newscaster announces that President Carter had collapsed that day due to heat exhaustion as Forrest runs through town.
His first stop is Santa Monica Yacht Harbor, seen as he jogs through the marked archway
From Santa Monica, he turns around and heads to a light house perched along the East Coast, overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.
From there we are given very little information about his specific locations other than shots of scenery. At one point, just as his jogging craze is about to catch on, he is approached by a throng of news reporters there to mark his 4th time crossing the Mississippi. The run at this point is said to have lasted over 2 years.
Based on this information from the movie, the list of filming locations, and an analysis of the script, Centives was able to generate the 11 point route that Forrest follows in his journey across the United States:
Point A, the place from where he begins is an arbitrary point in the middle of Alabama since the Greenbow of the film is fictional. Centives also had to generate coastal points F and J – there are no shots of these locations in the film but they are vaguely referred to. The points themselves are the shortest distance to the coast from Forrest’s last known location. The rest are accurate representations of what was depicted in the film. You can play around with the map over here.
We’re told that Forrest ran for 3 years, 2 months, 14 days, and 16 hours, and in that time he ran 15,248 miles, crossing the United States five times, before deciding that it was time to go home.
Overall Forrest ran 0.54 miles per hour and averaged 91 miles per week. Elite college level cross-country runners can pull that off. The attention to detail paid by the filmmakers is commendable as Forrest’s feat is by no means impossible.
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I think FG run much longer than the 15,248 miles calculated here.
mrsssssssssssssssss
Your map has him stopping at point K. Does he run back home? (point A). He seems to stop and turn round and then start jogging back. This would change the overall mileage but probably the speed fractionally. Only an question he might have got a bus? Who knows? Probably just being picky when I don’t need to be.
I love numbers and details……shows how a math geek can actually converse in social conversations with cool fyi like thast. However this by no means a feat that should be suggested a “not impossible feat” even if the average joe would merely walk this route….through the winters…the desert….the hills…..how many would co9me close to pulling it off?
Actually in the movie he says he’s done running and starts walking.
Great work…. Didn’t know if it was done by someone in real….. For the supplies thing Forrest might have just carried enough cash or Cards to buy use and throw/donate.
I proud to say I have run in 4 of the sites ran
By the one and only Forest Gump
The greatest movie of ALL time
Forrest stoppped running and went home for a few years to mow yards then seen President Obama was in trouble so he took off his gump outfit, changed shoes so he could help the President run for relection.
This comment gave me cancer….
Well, put good sir.
ti si mekinja prava
NO way did he run through Minnesota, Mississippi river or not.
What about this map: http://postimage.org/image/lqy0890mv/
As someone who has walked across the United States–from the Santa Monica Pier to Coney Island, NYC (3,463 miles in 211 days)–I’d say I possess some unique insight regarding how realistic Forrest’s run was.
Yes, the filmmakers did pay pretty close attention to detail, but they also missed or omitted some very important details. Aside from the fact that Forrest would have been able to run two or three times the distance he allegedly ran every day (if he didn’t have to carry any gear), the most obvious problem is that Forrest didn’t carry any gear or necessary supplies. If he had been carrying gear and supplies, his run would have been more of a walk, and his daily mileage potential would have decreased dramatically.
Even the most gonzo minimalist needs gear, especially for such a long, uninterrupted, unassisted journey. At the very least you need rain protection, thermal protection, socks, toothpaste, toothbrush, water bladders, water, sleeping gear, and a backpack to hold it all. Even though I didn’t list all the essential gear here, the gear on this list still adds up to a lot of weight. And carrying a lot of weight makes it very difficult (or impossible) to run. (Yes, I know there are people who run 100-mile marathons with essentially no gear, and I know there are TV personalities who go off into the middle of nowhere and survive with essentially no gear. However, what those people do is not the same thing as trying to get somewhere all day, every day, for months or years straight.)
Here’s something the filmmakers got really wrong: They didn’t show Forrest getting harassed by cops every few days. Forrest didn’t get beat up by cops or put in jail for breaking no laws. Yup, that’s what happens when you do what Forrest did (if you do it anonymously, without displaying any signage to tell the world you’re walking or running across the country). So sometimes you sit in jail for eight days before you even know if anyone knows you’re alive (because you don’t get a phone call if they don’t feel like giving you a phone call). After eight days, you receive a letter from your mom, and finally you at least know that she knows you’re not dead. So that part of the torture is finally over. Still, you sit in jail for another eight days, powerless to do anything or even talk to anyone who might be able to help you, even though your mom may have already deposited bail money into your inmate account from 800 or 900 miles away.
What I’ve said here is just the beginning of what I could say. Please challenge what I’ve said or ask me for more details, just for fun, because I can provide a good answer to just about every challenge or inquiry. I’d love to share what it’s really like, and I’d also love to share more about how Forrest Gump missed the mark here.
But hey, I love Forrest Gump. In fact, I’d say it’s probably my favorite movie. Even though Forrest was not my inspiration for walking across the United States, Forrest is the reason I began my walk at the Santa Monica Pier, and Forrest is also the reason why I felt compelled to walk through Monument Valley on my way to New York.
(Note to self: ATMs and weather/seasons.)
Realistic? The movie, and book were fictional. They even said up there. Getting nick-picky over slight details over a fictional story is crazy talk. Did two-thousand men, and elves really hold out against forty-thousand Orcs at Helmdeep? Are you even going to try to argue the facts of that? No, because it was fictional. That’s why fiction sells better then non-fiction it makes you to want to believe such feats are possible, and to make a story more inspirational then it already is.
Yeah, except Forrest Gump is a reasonably realistic story, and pretty much every event in the story could actually happen (or did happen, in many cases). Unlike Forrest Gump, your example is based on premises that everyone knows could realistically never occur on Planet Earth. Consequently, no one is ever going to write a blog post like this about elves, Orcs, or Helmdeep.
Many of the events in Forrest Gump may seem unlikely to happen in the real world, but they are at least possible, which is precisely why Forrest Gump is one of the best movies ever made. That’s also why at least one person has gone through the effort of trying to figure out Forrest’s running route, then writing a long, detailed, analytical blog post about it. And that’s why countless thousands of others (including you) have taken the time to read this blog post, with dozens of those people (including you) spending even more time reading the comments, then responding to them.
There are obviously a lot of people out there who are curious to know if Forrest Gump’s running feat could actually be done. There are also people who would like to know if the running scenes provided a realistic peek into what it may be like to do what Forrest did. But you know how many people on this planet can actually provide realistic answers to those questions? Only a handful of people can, and I’m one of them.
As one of those people, I’ve been asked by many friends and strangers what it’s really like to do something similar to Forrest’s long, solitary, lonely trek. (I’m always happy to share my unique stories and insight with them, even if it upsets people like yourself.)
I can’t tell you how many people have told me I should write a book about my walk. And if any publisher ever figures out that I have a story that’s even better than Forrest Gump, I will write that book, in addition to several other books about my experience traveling the United States on foot without any money or direction, meeting the most interesting people you could ever hope to meet. And unlike most of these kinds of stories, all my stories are true.
You got a problem with my willingness to share what a lot of people would like to know?
I’m a backpacker my self, and you never offended me. I was just saying to writing a captivating story like Forest Gump. You have to stretch the truth a bit. Just like in Tim Burton’s Big Fish. I.E. my comment about Lord of the Ring’s was and exaggeration. Trust me I lived in Arizona, where a lot of that scene was shot in. Trust me you don’t have to point out running across a desert with no water is unrealistic. It’s pretty much common sense you need water to live, or run through it. Secondly, did you yell Rodney King when the police beat you up?
One thing, guys…Jenny died in 1982, and they presumably reunited in 1981 (that is the year they showed in the very first scene on the bus, and Forrest got the letter from Jenny when the TV was saying that President Reagan was shot). How could Forrest start running in October 1979 and run for 3 + years?
I’ll bet that the experience would be amazing.
Where is the map??? Forrest Gump is one of my favorite movies.. A man not as smart as the average man led an extraordinary life.. Good to his Momma good to his son and good to his Jenny.. He accomplished so much more than most Americans will ever do so.. Gained the respect of his commanding officer the black panthers and numerous others.. Good ole country boy
Good try, but looking at your map I don’t think he would have ran on any major Interstates. You have him running on Interstate 80 mostly across the country. Didn’t see that in the movie.
He did not start in the middle of the state of Alabama. Although the town he lived in was fictional, it was still in south Alabama on the bayou/coast.
I can tell you didn’t read the book, it gives a very well description of his home and the map is right on point
I think you meant ‘a very good’ description. Well doesn’t work in that sentence
According to the movie, he lived in the general vicinity of the University of Alabama’s football stadium, which is in Tuscaloosa, nowhere near the Gulf Coast. We are not told how long it takes Forrest to run home from the gulf when he is told his mother is ill.
holy moly! :O
First.
Where is point B?
technically, he wasn’t running, he was jogging
ron burgundy says that it is called “yogging”….but it might be pronounced with a soft J….so you may be correct….but unlikely
Technically, you’re annoying and probably not much fun at parties.
i agree
I don’t care what route he took! Its about the message! and the message is…whatever you come with, i’m sure it will balance with your own personality and character.
If he ran a consistent 3.0 mph, which is a slower, ‘average’ speed for a runner, he would be able to run the states (through the widest stretch — New York City, NY to the coast west of Olympia, WA) 7 times (if he ran consecutively, taking only 8 hours off every day to sleep). Why did I waste my time on this math? Oh yeah, I love running.
I just thought of this guys: ITS A FUCKING MOVIE!
than why did you even click on it too read it????
I just thought of this dude: ITS A FUCKING AMAZING MOVIE!
Wow, someone being exceptionally close-minded on the internet… I’d better write down the date so I can tell my children in years to come, that never happens!
I always think the same thing. It’s a movie, may be BASED somewhat on reality, but no one connected to it is in any way constrained by reality, except perhaps by physics.
They definitely shot a running scene in Vermont. The run has to go through Vermont.
This doesn’t even take into account walking routes. From what I could see, these are driving directions, his walking route could have been a lot shorter or longer, if he did choose to walk along the coast.
“Elite College Runners…” guys the dude was retarded, seems like a feat to me he could shit and wipe for himself
More like obese middle aged couch potatoes. He runs a consistent 2 hour-mile pace. Most people could crawl faster.
Are you really that stupid? Half mile and hour is average pace, including time sleeping and doing stuff other than running. he ran an average of about 13 miles a day, probably doing it in about 3 hours of running each day (about 13 minutes per mile)
it was a constant pace that he had to sustain for over three years. i think if i had to run three years, i would probably also take it slow.
He wasn’t that dumb, he avoided most of Texas.
Excellent.
Cool. He ran through my home town of Fort Morgan Colorado then. Nice.
GO MUSTANGS!!!
Why is there no “B”?
Came here to say this.
B and J are the same location
and this i approve.
winnah!
Zing!
lol i was just about to ask the same question, shane.
…glad someone already answered. thank you, ryley:).
i really regret reading these comments. you guys suck
…you probably regret most of your life don’t you?
Seems to me like .54 mph isn’t very fast at all. Average walking speed is much faster. Also he averaged 91 miles a week? That’s only 13 miles a day, average jogger could take that distance down in a couple hours and rest for the rest of the day. To me the movie gave the impression that he was running almost all day (except when he was tired and slept, was hungry and ate, or had to go and went). So I’m not sure I would say the film makers had impressive attention to detail because they should have made the distance longer for him to take 3 years to complete it.
I remember reading that Eddie Izzard once ran like a series of 30 marathons in a month or something and he was talking about how he was getting blisters on his blisters and jsut the excruciating kind of pain he was in. I imagine having to keep it up for a period of three years would be kind of…difficult. He was running on roads, imagine the strain on his knee caps.
If anybody were to try running for ~3 years they’d probably have to pace themselves…
But the film makers do give the impression that he’s running a lot faster and harder than what it actually turns out. That’s what Kyle was saying and thats what is odd. It’s impressive, yes, but it’s also a little…underwhelming?
well thats the whole idea here…. he did pace his self thats why it took 3 years! as you can see from the map he route wouldn’t have taken any where close to 3 years if he had not pace his self!!! That’s the whole point, he didn’t run as fast as he could or not even as hard as he could…. look at the map, surly you can tell that much!
It seems like he crosses every state except for Oregon and Florida?
Don’t forget Alaska and Hawaii
It doesn’t look like Vermont, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Delaware, New Jersey, Virginia, West Virginia, or Maryland were crossed either…
Or Louisiana
And if you zoom in you’ll see the route he would have most likely taken never crossed into Michigan. So that’s another one.
How does this compare to if Gump had just chosen to run along the coast of the US? Is that even possible? Do people do it?
Yes, Mr. Paris, people do that all the time.
Yep, “all the time”, that’s not an exaggeration. In fact, I’m running it right now.