Hashing & hobbling

Posted in: Drivel

Enjoyable evening hashing with Tommy. Hashing describes itself as "a drinking club with a running problem". The Barnes H3 (Hash House Harriers) describe it as...

...based on the crazy 60 year old idea of an Hare & Hounds paper chase or hunt. The "Hare" pre-lays a trail of flour and the "Hounds" follow in pursuit. Breaks in the trail - called "Checks" or "False Trails" - help to divert the faster runners whilst allowing the slower runners to catch up and have a short rest. The whole emphasis is on having fun, socialising, getting moderate exercise and working up a thirst.

Which is very loose code for at least one pub being visited. The general tone of the harriers can be quite fruity, if you know what I mean.

My first, and indeed only, experience was in Rome with Polly back in 1997. It sounds like hard work but is really great fun. I saw and ran around parts of Wimbledon and Southfields I would not normally ever venture upon unless I was specifically out to explore random roads and fields–it's a beautiful place. Some intriguing little shortcuts and paths through places I thought I knew reasonably well, too.

There were quite a few out-of-towners present (of which of course Tommy was one) on their way to the massive annual Interhash, this time in Cardiff. After people introducing themselves from Chicago, Baltimore, DC, New York my intro of being from Southfields, all of about a mile away, drew some laughs.

During the run I managed to sustain an annoying minor injury to my right adductor and ilio-tibial band (i.e. knee), probably thanks to being quite badly fatigued after a rather unpleasant 30km ride to Reigate the night before. Nothing specifically seemed to cause it; it kind of arrived, and after some (probably foolish) persistence running I had to walk back. Good job the hash harriers mark the trails!

And no, I wasn't drinking ;-)

Posted by Paul Makepeace at July 21, 2004 23:30 | TrackBack