Saturday, December 29, 2012

GFH3 Run #1,676; 29 Dec 2012

On the Day That Couldn't Make Up Its Mind, we got a little snow, a little slush, a bit of rain, some wind... and right about 3:00pm we got a clearing in the clouds that revealed beautiful blue skies luminous with golden sunshine.  Ah, lovely -- albeit freezing cold.

Despite the uncertainty in the skies, 25 of us made it to the Algonkian Parkway and Spurt's home, where he and Lezley had spent the early afternoon setting trail with flour, blue flour, chalk and an occasional squirt of spray paint in case everything else melted or washed away.  The Mufti reminded us that there will be a big ole party (plus some irritating exercise-y stuff) at Byte Me! and Eat It Raw's home at 11:00am on New Year's Day.  See you there!

Our heroic hares answer the eternal question, "Where's the second check?"


But first... Spurt pointed to a big floury circle on his driveway, and we're off... in three different directions... which eventually resolved themselves to the correct one.  The walkers wandered pathwards, well-bundled, while the runners slipped and skidded down the slick pavement.  Spurt and Lezley sent them on a compact circle that didn't take much time but required the resolution to slop through woods full of both obvious and carefully-camouflaged puddles and rivulets and minor ponds flooded with ice water.  So everyone made it back in less than an hour, but with sneakers full of slush and semi-frozen toes.

You can see how avoiding the water hazard might be a skosh tricky.


Good thing there was a big pot of turkey chili on the stovetop, waiting for hungry hashers to dish up and decorate with cheese and sour cream and corn bread and salad and vegetable lasagna.  Yum!  There was also good beer in cans -- if someone gets up the nerve to add a comment (just click the "[No] Comments" link below, type away in the box that appears, then choose "Anonymous" from the 'Post As' drop-down menu, and hit "Publish"), you can confirm this and specify the type.  Given my respiratory distress, I'm sticking with water for now.

The magnificent Mufti called the roll, with three hearty cheers for head chef Susan.  No newcomers today; no significant injuries; plenty of witty repartee.  Photos are available for those who like that sort of thing.

Monday, December 24, 2012

Happy & Merry and Joy & Peace

Wishing health and good humor to all our Hash family for this festive season and all of the new year.




Saturday, December 22, 2012

GFH3 Run #1,675; 22 December 2012

It was sunny and beautiful again, albeit a midge brisk -- 40 degrees F is still above freezing, for heaven's sake -- with a wind that had calmed from the morning's 60 mph gusts as the GF Hash convened in... Great Falls!  Drill Me Fill Me threw open his palatial home, or at least the ground level, to about 40 hashers.  Let's just skip ahead to the most important part:  no one walked on the pool cover.

We got sad news from the Mufti:  our handsomest and most noble hasher, Duke, died this week in the loving arms of Packing Pink and Pickled Peter.  Duke was a great addition to our group; gracious and friendly and hardy.  We shall all miss his big ole head bumping the backs of our legs as he meandered past to say hello, and my heart is with Pink and Peter as they mourn their loss.

Duke in happy days.
 On the good news front, Thanks for the Mammaries returned almost whole and certainly hearty from the Vincent Massif.  There's a little bit of nose frostbite, but that should pass.  We look forward to the photos.

Back on trail:  Easy Strider, Blow in the Hole and Tasty Cakes (returned from the UK, where climate change has set in dramatically - her hair was considerably blonder after four months' exposure to all the English sunshine) set a long and apparently quite challenging runner's trail.  E.S. shook his head in dismay as the runners headed off in the wrong direction near the start, and I recalled a time he himself ran about a mile of the very clearly marked walkers trail from our house before figuring out that blue 'W's might not be the best marks for a runner to follow.  So there.

Anyway, the FRBs didn't make it to the On In until almost 6pm, joined not too long after by four or five hardy DFLs.  They found, waiting for them, about a dozen short-cutters, as well as our 15-or-so walkers, and a bountiful multi-culti spread that included lo mein, spaghetti, empanadas and more.  I spotted a Blue Moon ale or two, which adds Belgium to the mix.  Civilized by the luxury of the meal and beauty of the drawing room, no one fought over who got to sit nearest the fire.

If you were happy to see this, I hope you said "thank you" to Blow in the Hole.

The Mufti's powerful roll call revealed two first-timers; the Jazz Swinger got a moment off from her festive-season singing duties to drop in and visit with us; and Brogue Bait and Pump Master were visiting for the holidays.  Lovely to see everyone.  Roll call also came, as it must, to the 199th run for Goes Down on Trail.  "There will be a meeting of the executive committee," the Mufti promised, and there was.

The meeting was... no, I'm keeping it clean.  The meeting was loud.  The meeting was highly participatory.  The meeting was, eventually, successful in its goal, and Goes Down on Trail will have a new name when next we see him.  Keep running, GDoT.  Keep running.

For photos, click here.

Sunday, December 16, 2012

GFH3 Run #1,674; 15 Dec 2012

Saturday's weather was simply gorgeous; sunshine and high 50s.  Cums Too Fast hosted for the second time in his 194 runs, from his luxury apartment's festively-decorated entertainment center in Rosslyn.  The perils of the big city proved too much for many of our intrepid hashers, but a high-quality group of 19 gathered.  Attendees included three new members, whose Hash experience encompasses Senegal, Nepal and Botswana.  We do hope to see Lila, Kent and James again some day.  The veterans the Mufti, Air Horne, Zipperhead and special guest star Rrocks Starr all joined us.

Bad Fred ran the speedy types out to Ballston and then sent them home on the Metro -- even providing Metro cards for everyone.  While the FRBs waited 20 minutes for the train, Zipperhead and Phoenix Rising made it to the platform with about 15 seconds to spare.  Apparently, no one jogged in place during the wait.  Meanwhile, the walkers set off past Iwo Jima and covered the substantial distance to the Tomb of the Unknowns and back.

CTF offers up Metro tix.

Once returned, the gang enjoyed Dos Equis, Black Box wines and a choice of pork and broccoli or black bean and veg hot pot over rice.  Hasher Flasher and Cums Too Fast shared a mutually-belated birthday cake, and the neophyte James initiated a conversation about fetishes and literature.  I will never understand this group (and prefer not to).

Everyone was terribly saddened that Lori, Greg and Leslie gave up the search for the top-secret location of the meet.  And I apologize for INDY and my forgetting the camera.  I had to rely on the phone for photos, so the graininess quotient is far above our usual standard.  Oh, how we all miss the professionalism and eye for fleeting beauty of our official hash flash.  Radar, where art thou?

Best synchronized speech ever offered.

Thanks for all the help cleaning up, Strider et al!  The fuzzy photos are on view here.

GFH3 Run #1,673; 8 Dec 2012

Check the gas tank, hashers -- we're off to Paeonian Springs for another in a long, long series of gorgeous, warm, sunshiny hashes.  Easy Strider, Flowerkraut and Susie Calico were waiting on the beautifully-landscaped front deck to greet about 25-30 of Great Falls's finest.  While the walkers strolled off up the street, the runners set out to cross the girder and climb to the hill to the W&OD trail.  "They do that every time," E.S. noted with amazement as the pack headed in the wrong direction.  There was some confusion or contention over the meaning of the first check and its extra arm; once addressed by the kindly hare, the runners made for the fields.  E.S. nonetheless felt a responsibility to sweep up behind.
Mystifying?

Plenty of cross-country trail in this run, and at least one low-running stream, and I'm guessing a few cow pats.  About two-thirds of the pack chose to cut the trail "short" -- remember who's setting, now.  Waiting near the W&OD, after a brisk walk, for the would-be eagles, I saw a fox race across the field, not more than ten meters from me, its brush streaming out behind.  Beautiful.  As the ads say:  "Paeonian Springs.  It's worth the trip."

Mildly scratched up around the ankles and lower legs, everyone made it home thirsty for great beer.  We also got a round of pizza and salad, and a bevy of desserts.  Wine, of course, though you can pretty much tell that it's not the focus at this on-in.

Not-Scarlet checks out the walkers' on-trail find.

Moaner Lisa and Naughty Nurse showed up for the easy part, the former celebrating something like 945 runs.  And Peanut was there again, as was Scarlet, now named something else I knew I would forget.  This re-naming of critters who have already been introduced...

Click here for photos.


GFH3 Run #1,672; 1 Dec 2012

Another gorgeous day, both sunshine and warmth.  For a change of pace, Hasher Flasher and INDY set the trail.  Wowser.  Hasher Flasher hosted, though, so runners went in and around the woods and sidewalks of Herndon, including a nice stretch along a stream whose name I don't know.  C.T.F. finished first, which is getting a bit old.  The unconquerable Air Horn is running impressively well, even without all the surgery and stuff.  I want some of what he's taking.

That's not to say he doesn't feel it.

There were about 25-30 people in all, and four dogs.  Scarlet, the new Aidan, was with us for her first walk with the hash, as was Brogue Bait's youngest (who is one of the people, not one of the pups).  Someone will know that child's name -- he's the one shown spitting up in this week's photos.  Newcomer Peanut showed up late, tucked into Suck Squeeze BANG's jacket to try to quell the shivers of puppydom.

Welcome, Peanut!

Hasher Flasher laid on mountains of pizza and the usual beverages, with all kinds of sweets and munchies scattered about the house.  The Mufti returned to us to perform his stentorian best roll call.

Click here for photos.

GFH3 Run #1,671; 24 November 2012

Another beautifully sunshiny day, though perhaps a skosh brisk.  INDY and I hosted, because we want people to get sick of us, and he and Hasher Flasher set the runners' trail whilst again I set the walkers'.  We basically swapped trails from Thursday, so runners went on the McLean-ier parts of Pimmit Creek.  The walkers, theoretically, would have walked along the creek on a more northerly route, but they blew right past a back-check (distracted, perhaps, by the rather modernistic bright blue sculpture of a chiropracticly-challenged horse in a neighbor's front yard) and lost trail completely, cutting across someone's lawn and eventually making it back to the house.

Walkers Away!

About 24 people and no dogs (sadness) set out on the trails.  No idea who finished in front.  Air Horn and the Ole Fud started last, though -- how wonderful that they came!  I was also very excited to have Bobby at the house for the first time; he seemed to take it much more in stride, though.

I made chicken casserole and chickpea casserole to re-fuel everyone, and got rid of more salad than I'd thought I would.  As per, the cookies were fresh from the oven.  We had a very mixed assortment of beer and offered up polyglot wines, including the official hash white, Running Hare, which tastes like you'd think a Maryland wine would.

Oral Advocate at the clipboard again. Great to see everyone; thanks for coming!

There are a few photos available via this link.

GFH3 Thanksgiving 2012 (run 1,670)

Having to think about this almost a month after the event -- hmmm... the weather was gorgeous, and we had about 21 people and three dogs for a short run out of INDY and my house, with INDY and Hasher Flasher setting the trail along Pimmit Creek and into Arlington, for about 80/20 pavement/trail.  I set the walkers' trail, and made it a nice, near three-mile jaunt in an attempt to help folks balance caloric intake and output for the day.  Walkers went along Pimmit Creek, too, but a different section (no danger of Arlington for our walkers!), and probably had about 70/30 pavement/trail.

The great special guest star of the day was Chip Off the Old Dick's baby girl, appearing well-bundled in her trail stroller for her FIRST RUN with GFH3.

Can't really get more bundled, can you?

My recollection is that Easy Strider finished the run first, but I could be wrong.  In any event, certainly Goes Down on Trail (she typed, fingers crossed in the hope she's got the name right) and Greg would have given him some competition.

Victory of sorts.

Back at the house, in the newly-refurbished, ground-floor hashing suite, we poured mimosas and got through more beer than you'd think.  Despite the carbo-loading to come, hashers made impressive inroads into the bagels, finishing all the salmon and capers, as well as a strata or two.  We missed the Mufti, but Associate Mufti the Oral Advocate did his usual stellar job as substitute.

For photos, click here.