We Tried Walking 100 Miles with 47,000 People (4Daagse)

Welcome to the world's largest walking event and the Netherlands biggest party.

There's just been a mile long party through this town.

This is the Four Day March. Or as the Dutch call it, Vir Dagsi.

This is crazy.

I cried myself to sleep last night. I feel like I'm in a dream. Nate is living his best life. What I would do is fly right now. I've never been so determined in my life. I feel like I can't walk.

We are in real danger of getting cut off.

We flew all the way from the US to walk over 100 miles in four days. This event's been going on for over a hundred years and 1.6 million people flocked to the city to be a part of it. We've been trying to get tickets to do this for four years in a row and we're finally here to figure out what the hype is all about. Spoiler alert. It's way harder than it sounds. And I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to walk today.

This is a little moment for Cara.

My ankle doesn't usually look this way. Well, here I am.

But it's also a ton of fun. The atmosphere of this event is unlike anything we've ever experienced before. So join us for the roller coaster promotions that is the Four Day March.

Good morning. It is day one of the Four Day March. And the first wave of the march for some reason starts at 4am, which is way too early. But before we head to the march, I thought I should quickly explain how this is going to work. So we are currently in the oldest town in the Netherlands called Nagen. And this town is going to be our hub for the next four days. Every day we walk a circular route out and back to the town. 31 miles or 50 kilometers as they say here in the Netherlands. And each day we walk a different route. So at the end of the four days, our route will look something like a flower with N being the middle of the flower. There are big parties in town every night. I think along the route there are more parties going on. It's supposed to be a blast. But if I'm being honest, I'm questioning my life decisions right now. Choosing to fly 5,000 miles all the way here to the Netherlands to wake up at 3am every day.

Not me. Jetlag baby.

How much did you sleep last night?

I honestly don't know if I did.

Where's the excitement level?

I can't give that to you right now.

How many snickers is too many?

All right. Del's left us candy bananas. This is when stuff starts to get fun. We bought three each because we're in the Netherlands. We all of licorice.

Not gonna lie. I feel really hardcore right now.

So to make this week even more of a challenge, the closest hotel we could find was 20 minutes away from the start line. We've rented bikes and we are about to bike to the start.

All right, wish us luck.

Don't go that way. Don't go that way. There's a big bump.

It's fine.

Kara and I were laughing when we rented these bikes yesterday because we both have the seat all the way down and can still barely touch the pedals. I think the Dutch be the tallest in the world. We're going right? And these bikes are obviously made for Dutch people.

This is how you know you're in the Netherlands.

This is incredible. It is 4am and there is just an endless sea of people. All right, I think that means we have officially started.

We hear this is a big college town and all the students stay up and party all night and then they don't go to sleep and they come and cheer on the walkers.

Have you been to sleep, Dikto? Have you slept? Sweat slept. Hello, Dick. The.

Look at this. This is crazy. Do you have any tips? Just keep walking. Okay. Never stop. Nice to meet you. We've just been swallowed up into the sea of people. This guy's in a bush.

You got there. Okay, so there's an app for the walk and I hit start as soon as we went under the starting line. It's telling me now our estimated end time is3.57. So we'll see how accurate it is.

Which is actually one hour and three minutes under cutoff. So there is a cut off for the walk every day. We have to be back by 5pm and if we don't make it, we're not allowed to walk anymore. That's the end of this event for us.

Oh, my God. Your camera.

Oh, my God.

Have you been to sleep? I have a snapchat.

I've touched so many hands.

I love the tunnel.

Okay. It feels like now we've actually started the walk.

I watch your videos.

Have you done this before? It's my first time. Oh, Daisy, good luck. You also have.

I love to match people's energy.

You know, if this keeps them all day, 31 miles is going to be no problem.

I love these people. These are my people.

Oh, the Dutch walk fast.

Wow. What a start. That was everything I hoped it would be.

Definitely exceeded My expectations.

All right. Mile one of 124.

That was the first mile.

We're just crossing the bridge to leave town now.

So I would be drastically underestimating this walk if we hadn't done a few walking challenges in the past. The first one we ever did was walking across Rhode island. And then we also walked across the country of Singapore. I'm pretty sure Rhode island was exactly 31 miles, which is how far we have to walk every single day. Walking 30 miles cannot be that hard. And I was so sore when that was finished.

We both feel a little broken this morning. It's crazy how much walking can wreck your body. The end of that day is top three most exhausted I've ever been in my entire life.

Oh, wow. This hurts.

If we hadn't had that experience, I would think this was a walk in the park.

Pile two.

Has it really only been two miles? Their pace is so fast.

I am doing above average power walk speed to keep up at the moment.

Mile three feels like 30. Snack number one of the journey. Need to get some weight out of this backpack. I brought so much food.

This is how I taught Gary to doing the walk with me.

I get to eat every hour on the hour.

Good morning. Oh.

I think this is like a salted licorice candy. I don't like it.

While four and we made it to our first town.

Looks a bit angry.

I just feel like that's all you're supposed to say.

We'll throw out booster out there.

Yes. Three, two, one.

We really didn't know what to expect as we approached our first town of March, but I was not expecting this at 6am Just coffee or.

Thank you so much.

I'm about coffee. Yay. Thank you. Thank you. Hanging out here too.

Coffee. You just do this to be nice.

Thank you.

This is the best day ever. 5 seconds ago I was like, I'm tired.

This place is everything so far. This experience is reminding me so much of Ragbrai, which is a bike ride that we did a few years ago that goes all the way across the state of Iowa. It's one of those things that sounds like it shouldn't be very much fun. Just like showing up and walking 124 miles over the course of four days should not be fun. But it's the people. Like the start. This morning reminded me so much of the start of Ragbrai. Just everybody so pumped and happy to be there. It is the Ragbry experience. Except we are in the Netherlands on our feet and not on a bicycle.

I feel like this is the perfect time to explain that today is blue day. That's why everyone here is wearing fun blue outfits. But we have no Idea why.

The 4am starting line with all the crazy college kids was one thing, but I was shocked to see this amount of energy from so many locals out on the streets this early.

Wow, these people went all out. Mile five.

I forget I have legs when we're with these people.

Care for the future here. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh.

Sorry to interrupt the march. Really hope you're enjoying it because I'm still recovering. This whole adventure was made possible by BetterHelp, today's sponsor. When I first started therapy, I was a bit nervous and I seriously almost backed out of my first session because I was sitting there thinking, I really don't have that much to talk about. It's probably gonna be awkward. I kid you not. Next thing I Knew, I was 58 minutes into my 60 minute video call with my therapist and I just remember looking down and seeing I only had two minutes left and being like, oh my gosh. And I haven't even brought up the whole having kids thing yet.

Needless to say, therapists know what they're doing. And even if you don't think you have that much to unpack, chances are you probably do. I'm a firm believer that everyone can benefit from therapy, even if you don't realize it yet. And the reason I love BetterHelp so much is because it's 100% online therapy and it is so easy to get started. First, all you do is answer a few questions about yourself on their website and then they'll magically with a therapist who best meets your needs and preferences. Once you're matched with someone, you can start communicating with them however you feel most comfortable, whether that's a video chat, a phone call, or messaging. And if for some reason it's not really working out with your first therapist, it's easy and free to switch to someone new. Relax the shoulders. So if you're interested in beginning therapy, if you click our link in the description below, betterhelp.com K&N or choose Karen Nate at signup you can get a special discount off your first month. Okay, back to the march.

Nate, bring me my towel.

Quick.

Mile 7.

Mile 8.

I'm pretty sure that speed walking is an actual event in the Olympics, and if so, I can almost guarantee you that a Dutch person has won a gold medal. The speed at which we are walking right now is intense.

It is time at 7:05am to eat the cheese sandwich that we made at the breakfast buffet this morning.

Oh, you left him hanging.

He was so cute.

I really think in the past, a lot of the physical challenges we've done, we truly didn't know how many calories we were burning. And that eating would help you not bonk, I think is the word they use in the biz. Really staying on top of my eating on this trip.

Give him the honk.

Well, my apple watch just alerted me that my exercise ring is closed for the day. Little does she know we are just getting started. It's all about mindset, you know, Like, I could look at it as we're only 8 and a half miles in. We still have. How do you do math? Or I could can say we're almost a third of the way there. How much better does that sound?

All right. We've just made it to our second town of Walberg.

I've been told to protect these punch cards with my life for the next four days. These are everything along the route. Every day we have to get these stamped by an official person or we're out.

Thank you. No problem.

Good luck.

So every day at the end of the walk, we turn these in, prove that we've been to all the checkpoints, we didn't cheat, we didn't take any shortcut, and they give us a new one for tomorrow. If you lose this piece of paper, no sympathy. That's what we've been told.

Bravo.

Thank you. What did he say? I don't know.

And that is 10 a third of the way. Almost.

Made it to elst. I think ELST has something to do with why we're wearing blue. Still trying to figure that out.

Are you making it fresh? Yes. Wow. Thank you. Wow. I have been waiting for this moment ever since we signed up for the four day march. I just found a fresh homemade stroopwafel. The lady I was buying it from was giving me a hard time on how I said it.

Oh, my goodness. Completely different than the package thing. It just melts in your mouth. This will keep me going for a few miles.

11.