GFH3 Run #1,687; 9 March 2013

Man, oh man, is The (not very) Manic Mechanic going to be sorry he missed this one.  It was well worth the arduous trip to and from McLean.  But there, I'm getting ahead of myself.

You couldn't get a more beautiful day, now could you?  Not so true at 7:00am, as I'm Not Dead Yet and I set out with our flour, chalk and various busted joints to set trail - we were in layers and gloves.  However, by 10:45 the day had gotten a lot more spring-like as the hashers began to assemble.  The joy clearly shimmered in the sunshine as Radar returned to us, and the Mufti arrived with BC3 and a couple of emergency beer tubs, and Oral Advocate showed up with his younger offspring and a couple more beer tubs, the former for the purpose of training for a 10-miler (or a half-marathon?) under the inspirational influence of Mini Schlonga, whom I always think of as Sri Longa.  Anyway, by the time about 30 people and four dogs had gathered in the sunshine debating sleeve length, the beer was very well tubbed.

So off they went, the runners hitting a backcheck two in time to turn around and join the walkers for the first leg of the trail.  And I am delighted to report that, according to my sources, all the runners fell for the check that sent them into the woods on a trail to nowhere while the walkers strolled along the sidewalk.  Walkers got a 95% paved trail of two miles, turkeys got roughly three miles, almost all paved; and eagles got about five miles, also almost all paved as INDY didn't want to go the stream again.  (He does not believe in poetry, and hence holds the conviction that one can run along the same river twice.)

Everyone I heard from guessed that INDY designed the first half, but no.  *I* did.  And I had to argue him in to setting a backcheck early in the run.  And I believe everyone really enjoyed it.

We sent the runners into a construction zone, where apparently the FRBs got completely fouled up and, from what I can understand (which isn't much), wound up running back and forth across Kirby several times or something.  Meanwhile, Zipperhead, Chugger and maybe Valiant reminisced about trails of over a decade past, when someone named McInerney used to set in the same neighborhood.  Zipperhead says he recognized roughly 20% of the trail from those 20th-century runs.

Everyone made it back within 90 minutes or so, and refused to go inside where the food was because the beer and sunshine were outside.  In honor of the coming celebration of Hibernian snake removal, we offered a few bottles each of Guinness and Harp, all of which vanished pretty fast.  Meanwhile, the chicken and biscuits cooled a bit before being gobbled up pretty thoroughly in time for oatmeal cookies, warm from the oven.  I hope that schtick isn't getting old for anyone.

Mufti called the roll like a man who doesn't know what sick or injured are, and we celebrated Melanie's first run.  Thanks to Thanks for the Mammaries for introducing her.  The elite group shouted their  "presents" from the penthouse seating area, where Jojo joined them briefly.  And then, because exercise, beer, wine, food, witty conversation and divine weather just aren't enough for us, INDY offered a floor (driveway) show performing on his high-wheel bicycle.  The highlight, though, was Easy Strider trying his first ride on a pennyfarthing with great success, and his second ride with rather more shrubbery involved than is considered ideal.

Easy Strider getting the idea, INDY offering encouragement, and Dave G. apparently not clear on the concept at all.

As the hashers trickled away, a few of us draped ourselves about the rockery, basking.  Finally, Easy Strider and Flowerkraut gave us a hand collecting the recyclables before waving goodbye to get out and get their chores done.  Happy weekend, everyone.

For photos -- several by Radar! -- click here.