On My First Haiti HASH

Lima Red Dress Run

Have you been on a Hash?  Google can lend a hand if you aren't familiar with the concept. The Hash House Harriers was started by British expats long ago, and have been an outlot for stir-crazy and fun-loving expats the world around.  Each Hash, the "hare" sets a trail with marks of flour for the "hounds" to follow.  There are false trails, special things you yell to tell people if you found the right or wrong trail, and beer stops along the way.

As a kid in Grenada, the Hashes were some of the best [and tiring] memories. The Hashers included serious runners, parents with kids on their backs, kids of various ages, overweight drinkers, and vaguely disreputable diplomats all following a trail of flour through cane fields, forests of thorn trees, mangrove swamps, pools of mud, and lots of cow manure.  By the Hash end [at a watering hole], everyone was muddy, sweaty, drenched, scratched up, exhausted, and happy.

The Haiti Hash broke up after the earthquake and just started up a couple of weeks ago.  I decided to go as much to stretch my legs as to meet other people.  I also dragged my boss along.  She started the Juba, Sudan, Hash.  We got thoroughly lost driving to the meeting place which didn't bode well for our ability to navigate the Hash but gave us ample time to appreciate the many hills of the neighborhood we were to Hash in.

I ended up holding up the rear of the runners instead of walk-running as I intended.  This was less because I was feeling hard core and more because I don't like hills and wanted to get it over with.  It was a fun group that managed to keep the Hash traditions alive without being too self-important about it.  We got back to the base after what felt like hours of running up and down hills and got to the rounds of Hash songs, penalties and salutes, all of which involved chugging beer.  It's all a bit cheesey and almost requires a certain amount of beer to make it fun.   Alison and I managed to dodge most of the beer chugging, but are determined that for the next Hash we will not have driving responsibilities or $47M proposals to hold us back.

I am sore.