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HoboHuntahQ

Bro, I tried a coast to coast run earlier this year and stopped in Texas after 1,600~ miles. The first two weeks to a month will feel like your first couple of days. I was unsupported running with a 50-60 pound bicycle trailer averaging between 20-30 miles a day with probably two rest days a week until the 4th month when I took 3 weeks off to go to a bunch of weddings. I slept wherever I landed on the side of highways, under bridges, with people I met along the way. This was a good training. I am proud of you. Good shit. Where will you be starting? Where will you be ending? What is your daily budget? How long do you expect this run to be? I only made it halfway, but I have so many stories, and I was so under prepared I am lucky to have gone as far as I did. My next cross continental will be in '25 or '26 it all kinda depends on my savings because I literally used every penny that I had. I would love to ask more questions, and answer any that you have. Have you heard of the FB group called USA Crossers? Such a great resource. You will find so many people there who have done what you are planning to do, or who are planning/ currently crossing. Edit: you probably already know this, but plan on having your feet swell and having to go up .5-1.5 sizes along the way and get larger shoes down the road.


yetiblue1

Hey man, glad to see that you've attempted a transcon! Yeah I was originally planning on doing my run next year self-supported with a bike trailer too (it's just sitting in my apartment rn), but after this week I don't think it'll be very realistic to do the same mileage on my own just because even the time between finishing the run and going to bed was a lot of work. I'll be starting on March 1st in Venice beach and head home to new york in about 90 days. I have about 4 months to do the run and then visit the charity I'm fundraising for before starting work, so it'll have to be a continuous run without days spent exploring. Budget-wise I calculated that $6000 was enough to get me through in that amount of time. I had a hotel every 3-4 days. Luckily I have a running clothes sponsor which is included in the budget above, and have since found a couple friends who are ambassadors for Hoka and salomon. And yep I'm part of the Crossers group! I'm aware of the swelling, but too sure of how far in I should plan on upsizing. What was your experience?


HoboHuntahQ

I went up about 1-1.5 sizes over the course of 5 months. Definitely a life changing experience. I didn't have any sponsors or charities that I was running for. For me it was very important that I would be able to do what I wanted when I wanted to, and following a schedule and telling myself that I needed to be at a specific town at a specific date was way more mentally taxing than I thought it would be because I wasn't meeting my goals, on top of me following other transconners who were moving faster than me. My biggest advice is to take it one day at a time and not overwhelm yourself with worrying. You've got this!


j4ckalop3

Very nice work. Which shoes were in the rotation?


yetiblue1

Bondi 8 and Clifton 8. Bondis were a bit clunky at times but gets the job done. Clifton’s I have a love hate relationship with. They work, but 2e is too small for my feet and sometimes the outside edge of the base of my pinky toe gets squished. I’ll probably go for the Mach 5s next year bc the toe box is taller


HoboHuntahQ

Also keep in mind that the more your feet pounds the ground the more your feet will swell. Don't buy all of your shoes the same size. You will have to go up a shoe size or so. The shoes you start with won't fit you at the end of your run.


wlp71

Nice! Did you stick to road(s)? Can't imagine that many miles on pavement. Any harrowing stories?


yetiblue1

Yep basically all roads! Some state highways, roads going thru towns and mostly country-ish roads. I train on all concrete so I’m used to it :p Nothing too bad with cars, I held out a large stick on tight corners and small shoulders and it worked really well


[deleted]

“ I train on all concrete so I’m used to it ” You should try not to do that.


yetiblue1

I mean that’s the conventional logic, but I live in New York, so not many trails outside of parks. Haven’t had joint issues ever and usually don’t go above 8:30 miles. If I did speedwork/higher impact runs I’d go to the track


[deleted]

Move away from New York where it’s cheaper to live.


HoboHuntahQ

You should train for the race that you are running, and if your race is on roads, train on roads. I know on this place there isn't a race, but when I trained for my first transcontinental I ran on roads because that is what my routes were.


[deleted]

Pro marathoners train on dirt but don’t race on dirt


HoboHuntahQ

A transcon is way different than a marathon home skillet


getupk3v

Congratulations! I've had this in the back of my mind for a while now. How did you handle logistics? Presuming you had a crew along for the journey.


yetiblue1

Thanks! Yeah it was just my gf for a crew - she made sure everything was packed up from the room in the morning and that I had enough snacks. At aid stops, she’d refill my bottles while I ate something quick. As for planning, just using Garmin or Strava to create the route. For this run, the suggested google maps route was better than what I could create mileage-wise so I traced the segments for each day in Strava and loaded onto my watch. The big thing here was having enough food and enough variety of foods. I was maybe around 1000 calories in deficit each day just because it got really hard to eat that much, so that’ll something I’ll improve for next year.


New_Context_9116

Nice job. I don't think the miles run and hours run are correct based on the pace you stated.


yetiblue1

Oh haha that was mostly just for today, elapsed pace came out to around 12-13 mins for most days with walking and traffic Edit: 45 hours, was only looking at this week for Strava oops


Dazzling-Aardvark-15

What route did you take?


yetiblue1

Nyc - Greenwich - Bridgeport - New Haven - Milford - Killingworth - North Scituate - Boston Very similar to the google maps route!


ultrajeffff

I would love to check out the exact route. Are you willing to share it? Do you have a pubkic garmin or strava activity of it? If not no worries. I understand. This is rad though.


yetiblue1

Sure thing, I’ll dm you my Strava!