GFH3 Run #1,790; 10 January 2015

A favorite Hash hostess, Blow in the Hole hero'ed it up once again, with help from a cast of... several.  Consultation with Blazing Straddle and Jeffy Lube resulted in a useful trail map.  A quartet (BitH, JL, Zipperhead and Dances with Bulls; three on foot, one on wheels), well-bundled, colored the flour blue for better visibility on the leftover snow, and then scattered it about Herndon for 12 runners to follow.  Seven walkers made their own path, determined to visit the historic downtown, for bread or trains or maybe both.  That's four hares and 19 hounds; so how were there 30 people at the hash?

Pre layer-donning, the hares make sure they know where they're going -- more or less.

One speculates that perhaps not everyone felt like getting a bit of exercise in the great outdoors today.  How could that be?  Why would that be?  After all, the wind chill wasn't all that bad, and the sun was shining like billy-o, so temps in the high 20s actually felt more or less like high 20s, not something frighteningly lower.  Some people were outside in just three layers!

Blazing Straddle was inside, heating up the vegan and paleo chilis BitH had cooked up the day before; perfect lunch for a somewhat chilly day, after a five-mile run over occasionally icy ground.  The hash showed its appreciation by sucking up every gram of beef and most of the black-bean-and-sweet-potato.  Bubbles contributed cookies (and cleaned the downstairs bathroom, while BitH was cleaning every other inch of her home -- before the hash arrived!  Now that's some heroism.).

Note shining sun

Valiant handled the roll call as last week, and did it with a distinctive flair and a decent amount of group participation as he squinted at the tiny roll call print.  Trisha hit #2, and Jen Rough Cut got dug up from the C list, one hopes.  As one hopes they both come back soon.  You can see them in the photos, and introduce yourself next time.

GFH3 Run #1,779; 8 November 2014

In the midst of the new construction, golf courses and townhouse developments of Ashburn there is a farm or two still, and there is a bit of unpaved road with a 19th-century farmhouse that Little Ricky Tutu and his bride (about three years, for those of you who may have missed that development) are renovating.  Kindly, they shared it with the hash today, with Bad Dog assisting on trail.  The 27 hashers foregathered admired the work done and the plans for the future, listened respectfully to promises of a friendly trail for all ages and activity levels, then ran off into the mud of the nearest construction site.

Warm-up jig

Warm-up cheer

They found about five miles -- two and a half for the four walkers -- of mixed pavement and grass; pipeline and W&OD.  Along the way, Climax Investigator came up with several ideas for nicknames:  Rubs One Out for Seth, who was fixing chalk marks along the way; Little Pokey Things for Brogue Bait, who was irked by the sticktights clinging to her extremities; Jack Rabbit, Sticky Palm and Go Long for others for other reasons.  Go Long presumably has something to do with the football that was, per Bite Me (eyes rolling), in constant play throughout the run.

Fleet feet with football

The 19 runners made it back in four clumps (fast, faster, super-fast and shortcutters) and settled down to sausage (LRT:  "Regular or spicy?"), burgers and dogs and trimmings, bedewed by Sam Adams and Sierra Nevada amongst others.  As the crisp and sunny afternoon ceded to a chilly and sunset-y evening, hoods were pulled up and coats pulled on and blankets pulled over the coats and hoods, and the Mufti started shouting.  He was moving along as briskly as the weather through that roll call until he got down into the S's, when he suddenly flinched, bellowed a warning, and announced Spurt has achieved 666.  Then he dug into the B list for Pumpmaster, whilst Air Horn sadly pondered what he had done wrong.  To rear a B-lister:  oh, the ignominy.

During a conversation about Radar's photographic perspective and the plaudits it wins from half our membership, Bite Me confessed, "I can't find most of my costumes."  Non-Radar (sorry, guys) pictures here.  Great hash!

NEXT WEEK:  NOON START in Rock Creek Park.