Hash Harriers

THAT'S ILLEGAL!!! ... Contrary to initial impressions his is not about vertical take off jets loaded full of pot... I am now technically a "Hasher", and although to become a hasher did involve a LOT of weed...s.. there was no smoking to be had. So what the heck is a "Hash Harrier" anyhow? It blends a lot of different things, starting with trail running. Now add some sense of adventure.... in fact a HUGE sense of adventure, with a bit of connect-the-dots infatuation. Finally and most importantly you've got to be slightly crazy, this is absolutely necessary, (otherwise why in the heck would you subject your self to this...). What all this adds up to is a trail run through the rain forest up and down an unknown "path" made up of blobs white shredded paper spread every 10-30 feet... or so. As a hasher you have no idea where the trail is going to lead, it's a large-scale game of connect-the-blobs. There are often (but not always) two trails, one for running and one for walking. The idea being the walking trail is shorter so everyone ends at about the same time. There is one LARGE aspect of hashing I've yet to mention, and that would be the main goal of 99% of hashers, BEER! The end of a has run is all about lots of beer, and on occasion food too. If you're wondering why would you want to exercise only to drink a lot of beer, "why not just drink or just run"... then you need to think of it in terms of this Acronym D.W.A.R.P.! Drinkers With A Running Problem! Unfortunately for me I'm not a beer drinker, i suppose i need to find a running flask... do they make such a thing? I've been told this is a world wide phenomenon, I can't speak for hash runs in other countries, but for the Grenada Hash House Harriers it's all about the rain forest ...and Carib of course. (Carib is the local Grenadian beer). Another quick note about the runs, the routes are determined the day of by one or two "Hares" who grab a machete, a big o'l bag of shredded paper, and head out into the rain forest hacking a new path for the day's hash run. Each has is different and unique. The trails also usually have at least one or two false trails. If you find a big white X then you've been running down the wrong trail, back to the fork (if you even saw it), and try again. As if you needed anything more to get your self lost in the rain forest.
So how did I get involved in this uh... "sport"? I started asking around about trail running in Grenada as it was one of my favorite things to do (besides cycling) in CA. Immediately everyone responded with "OH you've GOT to do a hash run!" This past Saturday, the 8th was my hash run, and by no means my last.
Saturday I hopped on a reggae bus heading north to the Carinage. Seeing a group of about 12 or so people of all odd shapes and sizes ALL wearing tennis shoes (odd phenomenon in the Caribbean), I knocked on the roof knowing this was my stop. The reggae van BLASTING music came to a screeching halt and I jump out. Approaching the group I ask "is this for the hash run?" I received a warm smile and a slightly mischievously look when the guy responded "Yep! Your first hash?" , "yes", "ahh a Virgin". I had read up on hashing a bit so luckily for me I was prepared for what was to come later and what his mischievously look meant. Signing the log book there is a separate column "Virgins", man they take this seriously... This meeting spot was simply an easy to get to gathering location where everyone carpools together to the start of the run. I'd like to say we headed north but we made so many turns i swear we spiraled around at least six times so I have no idea where on the island we were. On the ride up I found my self next to four Peace Corps. volunteers, they were all doing misc. services for Grenada from after school programs to setting up special education classes for the disabled. They were very friendly and lots of fun.
SGU provides a bus directly from campus to the hash start location, when that arrived the population about doubled. In total at the start there were probably about 50 hashers there, and a good 30% or so were all Virgins as I found out by the starling raising of hands in the beginning of the run. Skipping the inaugural speech stuff... the run started out as about every other race I've run has started. With the slowest walkers in front of course so all the runners have to squeeze around everyone as quickly as possible, no biggy. Seeing the first blob of paper I set it in my memory.. "DON"T forget what that looks like!" I'd been told not to worry, that there will always be someone behind you or someone in front of you to follow but when I was running at a good clip straight into the rain forest self preservation topped anything anyone could have done to assure me. The run started out hard, short steep up hill then LONG, STEEP, and completely rutted dirt "road" down hill. About this point is when I start thinking "for every hill i go down there's another one I must go back up... oh god..." a quarter mile later my thought was granted and we started up a very steep hill, only to go around a bend and have it get steeper yet...
another corner and even steeper. It wasn't quite vertical but at this point every single "runner" was walking and totally out of breath.
Right past here is where the split for the walkers and the runners divided. I am thinking to my self, I am a hell of a lot more out of shape then I thought, can i really take a whole lot more of this?... My plan had always been to do the longer running trail so even feeling like i was about to blow a few gaskets i headed down (thank god) the runner's trail. It VERY quickly changed from a road, to a path, to uh well a search for blobs in the jungle.
(above) although it may seem hard to believe the "trail" went straight though the middle of this photo. The grass your seeing is about two to four feet high. Note the goat! (look left side next to the log).
Running slowed to a jog and then to walk and then to an agile leaping over roots creeks, under trees, over logs, through brush, over bamboo, through bamboo.. WHACK! ... into bamboo. For all of you who've been on Indiana Jones at Disneyland, you know the huge "fake looking" bamboo that is all over the line area? Well in Grenada it isn't fake. I was quite surprised to see 4-6" diameter bamboo all over the place. (Below) check out this photo, this is looking straight up in the middle of a bamboo patch that i was "running" through.
All the funky angled bamboo throws off the perspective but if you notice only the green live bamboo faces straight up. This gives you an idea though what lies on the ground under the tall grass, LOTS of unknowns.
I I ended up following a local for a while (see below photo) who seemed to know his way around pretty well, until of course he pulled ahead and i lost him.
I found my self alone a number of times for periods of about five to ten minutes at the most. Five minutes in the rain forest "running" on some funky goose chase to who knows where is a bit nerve racking alone. Needles to say I was happy when I saw white flashes such as the shirt in front of me here...... and here...
The photo quality isn't quite what I usually post as I was using my four year old point and shoot digi cam. I wasn't about to risk my new Canon Rebel on this adventure. The fact that I was either running, hoping, or in motion of some sort with all photos is another big factor but hey you get a good view of what it looked like to me.
The laws of physics didn't seem to quite play out in this run, I SWEAR we ran UP twice as much as we ran down... But eventually we reached the peak. When you're on a 12 x 22 mile long island and you reach about a 1000 ft peak, you can see about a quarter of the entire country from one spot.
From this point on it was finally all down hill and easy going. The usual passing through people's yards, through farmer's "fields" of something, and eventually onto a dirt road leading back to Madi Gras, the start/finish.
After the run was completed there was a slightly crazy Scottish guy there auctioning off a three walking sticks for charity. Students really got into it and each one sold for average of 300 EC. (about... $125 USD). The guy with the "Sex Nice"... aka the school bus driver... lol :) The crazy Scottish guy in the background in mid auction.
Now to the finale. As a Virgin I was gathered with all the other Virgins just a ways away from the experienced hashers. We were read our doctrine of entrance to being a Hasher and no longer a Virgin by the Hash Master. Then we were told to receive our certificates would require us to meet him on the other side of the experienced Hashers... Since I was IN this I don't have my own photo so i borrowed one from the Grenada Hash Harriers website...
The Grenada Hash Harrier's website puts it best... "Newcomers to the hash (known as virgins) go through an initiation ritual (it is a secret ritual so let us just say that they end up reeking of beer) and are given a baptismal scroll welcoming them to the Order. Some are never seen again; the more extroverted (or is the word perverted?) become addicted."
And here is me after this nice baptismal...
It may not look like it but I am dripping from head to toe in beer... I REEKED!!! I'll update this in a day or two with a copy of my "Loss of Virginity" Certificate...
Overall Hashing was an absolute blast! I came home with only one cut (about three inches long down my leg), from a run-in with a cactus like plant thing and lots of mud all over the legs, calves, shoes, etc.
If you ever get a chance to go on a Hash, put on some old grungy shoes, expect to get dirty and smelly as can be, and go for it!
By the way, about half if not more of the Hashers walk the whole thing. Being the first back is frowned upon. Take a look at the website for more details... www.grenadahash.com

UPDATE: Below is my Official Loss Of Virginity certificate.... lol Note the weird grammar? that's about the way the locals usually talk, no wonder i can never understand what the heck they are saying...