A special Happy Hash, not too hard, not too easy

It has started to become winter in Chiang Mai lately, and it is the best time of year in my opinion. As I am sure most people are aware, Thailand is a very hot and humid country, but for a few months of the year in the northern areas, it gets pretty cold.

With temperatures reaching around 10 degrees C (50 F) this isn't exactly a call for the winter clothes, but it is quite cold for those of us that have grown accustomed to 35 degrees +.

The cold doesn't kick in until after sunset but that's the thing. The Hashes always start around 4 and this time of year the sun goes down around 530, so towards the end, we have a fantastic chance to get cold.

This would end up being particularly true for the couple of people that couldn't manage to make it across this rickety bamboo bride. 4 people ended up getting soaked but no one got hurt.

Now I want you to take another look at the above picture in general. See that fatty standing next to the creek? That is "Shrek" and he is quite a "big boy" and he is aware of this. He is also fairly representative of what many of the hash members look like.

Sometimes people are afraid to join a hash because they think that everyone is going to be super athletic and they might feel intimidated. Rest easy in those feeling and join anyway. I would say that a good half of our local members are overweight and most of them are over 50. Good people for sure, but elite athletes they are not.

I personally made a pretty decent pace on this run, but to be fair i was trying to win. This is known as being an F.R.B. or "Front Running Bastard." the trail was a bit difficult to find at times but that was kind of the point. it's nice to know at the end that i burned 702 calories because i had 6 beers at the circle and that is probably exactly how many calories are in 6 beers.

Today was "special" because the run was set by two "virgins" meaning that they had never set a trail before. This is a nerve-wracking event for anyone involved because setting trail isn't exactly easy to do. Overall the two of them did a wonderful job and the trail was actually a bit better than most of the ones that are set by veterans.

A good time was had by all and I definitely had a headache the following day. It was soooo worth it.

Anyways, as always i strongly encourage anyone out there to type the name of your city followed by "hash house harriers" and see if there is a local chapter. They a great group of people and an international organization.