GFH3 Run #1,777; 25 October 2014

Another gorgeous day in Sterling, following on a dry summer and fall.  Quick refresher:

This is what the woods around Spurt's house looked like in December 2012

Today, he had mapped a lovely 4.12-mile course, but decided it would be better if he could make the true trail less than four miles -- so he cut through the woods for a bit rather than send people on the paved path.  Fortunately for the hash, today the footing was more like this:

Lovely!  Of course, the eccentrics could still choose damp tootsies if they preferred.

Note Matt in background, headed for the bridge that goes above the water.

Consensus was that the trail was either "sucky" or excellent, both of which adjectives were intended to convey appreciation of an interesting, amusing and beautiful trail.  Further, it was of an appropriate length for those recovering from shoulder surgery, those more comfortable on two wheels, and for any Lyme-disease victims who felt like celebrating a warm and sunny day by being FRB.

The celebrating continued at the On In, with plenty of veggie-pasta casserole and beefy lasagna, with garlic bread and salad and cookies and plentiful libations.  (John:  "Fletcher [golden retriever] loves garlic bread."  Blazing Straddle:  "Who doesn't?")  So 13 tired runners and nine less-tired walkers managed to choke down some nourishment on the back deck.  If it looked like more than 22 hashers to you, that's because there were 31 people there -- lots of host/hare-types plus plentiful sweat-averse socializers.

The Mufti got his usual respectful silence for the roll call, more than can be said for Spurt's brief at the beginning of the meeting.  (Heh heh; actually, everyone was quiet for the brief -- except Susan...)  Spurt, Susan and Blow in the Hole got their well deserved cheers, Kim got an enthusiastic welcome to her first hash, with best wishes for 99 more, Greg made it to the double-8s, and Riley made double-1s.  And does anyone else believe that both Blows and Goes and Pulls Out Early did not stick around for the roll?

Mango stayed for the roll, and did not want to leave.

As the sun began snuggling into the treeline, Susan offered foil and plates to anyone who would take home some lasagna, and insisted everyone take home a banana or two.  If only it were possible to capture her tone -- part generous kindness, part coercion -- in the pictures.

GFH3 Run #1,776; 18 October 2014

The Mufti took a photo!  Give that man a raise!

Only the crème de la crème are allowed to cross the state line to hash.

And this info from Someone Who Was There:

We had a nice turnout; 25 showed up including some new runners, friends of other hashers.  Hash hostess Paint in the Ass, with help from Zipperhead and Dances with Bulls, set a run that covered some brand new territory and kept the pack together for the entire run.

It was a beautiful day in Silver Spring but a cold front was coming in and brisk was an understatement.

Mufti was there with Mango and the Great Falls car pool, chauffeured by Drill Me Fill Me.  Phoenix Rising, as per, ran the trail backward, but broke slightly with his usual technique by turning around partway through and coming into the On In with the pack. 

The hares used 15 pounds of flour and some of the runners claimed to notice a lot of back-checks and Xs.  Zipperhead invoked the heretofore unknown 'heart surgery waiver,' which allowed him to put down a lot of one-dot-to-nothing's.  Paint in the Ass announced that she had lost her keys scouting the run and offered whoever found them the old locks from her house for free!  Unlike a particular hash from the mists of decades past, no one had to break into the house for the On In.

Paint in the Ass hopes to send photos; until she can she shares this link to one of her son's productions.  It is well worth a look!

Not Silver Spring, but almost as good.

Dances with Bulls, Paint in the Ass and Zipperhead?!??

GFH3 Run #1,763.01; late July 2014

This just in from Book Club Babe:

Abrogating their responsibilities to the Home Hash, Packing Pink Heat, Pickled Peter and Walks on Water joined B-listers Feels the Burn (the former Ghanarhea), Book Club Babe and Goomba at the Brussels Beer Odyssey hash.  Nipple Knocker apparently actually bothered to do a bit of running, and so missed this photo op.  Or possibly is having a little nap down amongst the shoes of his amis.

GFH3 Run #1,775; 11 October 2014

From Valiant:

A combination of the noon start time and the morning rain resulted in the lowest turnout this year.  We had only 18 stalwart hashers, including the host, evenly split between runners and walkers.  The rain stopped before the run began, and the the hash set off on a relatively short but challenging course, which included some virgin territory, stream crossings,  and several muddy stretches near the river.  All arrived back within slightly more than an hour, with no serious mishaps to report, not counting the usual confusion about markings.  There was enough food for 50 and enough beer and wine for 60.  It was warm and dry enough to gather outdoors. Valiant showed off his new pool side pergola, and the Oral Advocate both called the roll and audited the Mufti.  Some of the old timers recalled the origin of their nicknames.  The front field was empty of cars by 3:30pm.

Archival Valiant

Archival Phyllis

FOR NEXT WEEK:  Please wear red, white and blue in celebration of GFH3 hash #1776!

GFH3 Run #1,774; 4 October 2014

First off:  The hash starts at NOON next week.  That's NOON.  Please tell your friends.

This week, the hash started at 3:00pm, or somewhat earlier for those who like to take a bit more time on the trail.  The late venue change caused only minor confusion, and most all of the day's 34 hashers were at Mufti and BC's place, basking in the sunshine, within a minute or two of the start of the brief.  The brief informed us that the Mufti and his associate, the Oral Advocate, were responsible for a four-mile trail, and no one was responsible for another couple of miles worth of false trails.  The Mufti, however, took full responsibility for the Nationals loss of Friday, when O.A. had kindly shared tickets with Our Fearsome Leader, which mistake he did not make for Saturday's game.  Which is apparently tied at the top of the 17th inning?  Is baseball different now than it used to be?  Is there a 17th-inning stretch?  Go, Nats!

Synchronized stretching.

Anyway, the run won applause from the 22 runners (and only seven walkers!  This is a serious running club!), who divided themselves into two groups according to tendon springiness while tunneling their way to Lake Ann, bypassing numerous culs-de-sac and returning circuitously to the On In via Reston Parkway and the North Point shopping center.  Walkers Beef Strokemoff and Queen Cobra were entrusted with Oscar and Mango; a high honor indeed.  Everyone was back in an hour or less, which is one way you win applause with this group.  Or you can complete the Chattanooga Choo-Choo Ironman in 2.5 hours less than your target time.  Hoorah, Bite Me!

Talk about tendon springiness...

Another way is to feed them well, which BC3 did with a magnificent spinach salad full of tomatoes in many colors, artichokes and other exoticisms.  It was an excellent embellishment of Papa John's usual fine effort.  There was enough variety in the beer tubs to tempt  Phoenix Rising to join the group very late, with his racing duds still on under his civvies.  Folks began trickling away by 4:30 or so -- perfect weather or not, autumn afternoons can get chilly.  And if you are driving a drop-top Cobra, the temperature is a concern, even if the Mufti has just begun the roll call.  If only Queen Cobra's driving her namesake roadster past the group just as Mufti shouted her name had made it into the pictures -- but it's hard to snap photos while cheering and clapping...  Thanks for shutter-assistance, Knipple Knocker!

Yeah.  That, too.

GFH3 Run #1,773; 27 September 2014

Nipples:  "What kind of a person sets a backcheck five on the turkey trail?"  Phoenix Rising:  "Heh heh heh."  Pause.  "At least it was downhill coming back."

Plus, the backcheck was only about halfway up the very long hill..

Although the funnier bit, arguably, was Air Horn beginning the brief with the announcement, "We ran into a few problems on the trail."  Specifically he, setting eagle, and PhR, setting turkey, ran into someone else's marks:  a whole bunch of floury arrows pointing some other people some other way through the Great Falls woods around Riverbend.  Luckily, the outlaw arrows had no cross-hatches, and were not paired with any kind of checks or other deviousnesses, so the hares wrote "GFH3" at frequent intervals on their overlapping trails and hoped for the best.

Another funny bit, actually, was when A.H. said turkey trail was about five miles.  Ha ha ha!  Eagles had a true trail of about six and a half, although Knipple Knocker reported 7.9 miles on his GPS.  Devon probably got more, as between outlaw arrows and Malaysian jetlag, she meandered a long way off trail and didn't make it On In until the search party was forming.

And Spurt is running again!  Welcome back!

Gorgeous weather ensured that ten turkeys and eight eagles (there were only 16 runners, but Blow in the Hole and Bionic Babe, after starting as eagles, mystically and abruptly evolved into turkeys during a moment of inattention, and thus count twice) plus ten walkers, all enjoyed their various excursions and came in smiling.  And kept right on smiling when they saw the big pot of turkey-and-chicken chili (hot sauce on the side, as A.H. did not want to make six different chilis at various levels of spiciness to suit all tastes) and the large pan of barbequed chicken.

The Associate Mufti was enjoying a Nationals win, and the Mufti was... Anyone know where the Mufti was?  Anyway, the roll showed up, so the Assistant Associate Mufti called 34 names (several people showed up late to eat and drink and camaraderie), with no birthdays or double numbers or other excitement.  Nonetheless, everyone in the photos looks pretty happy.

She's smiling in there somewhere.

GFH3 Run #1,772; 20 September 2014

The hash opened its fall/winter season with the Mufti's announcement that the next four weeks are already dibsed by eager hosts and hares, and then Spurt and Bad Dog (as proxy for Little Ricky Tutu) and maybe someone else created a foofaraw in competing for the one remaining October date.  The lesson drawn by Our Fearsome Leader?  Sign up now for a November slot!  Easy Strider:  "Isn't November usually the most popular..." [drowned out by chanting]

Controversy!  Is this the best weather ever, or was the Anniversary Hash the best weather ever?

Today was the perfect day for hosting, which is why Flowerkraut picked it.  The skies over Great Falls were balmy and blue, and the temps perfect for shorts and t-shirts with a light sheen of sweat, plus one kimono.  So 15 runners followed myriad pointing fingers to the creek, jogged downstream to the turkey/eagle split and mostly chose the eagle.  (Bubbles, briefing:  "True Turkey trail is about three miles; the Eagle about four, but it feels like five.")  There was some fairly tame shiggy and bushwhackery, and maybe a bit of new territory -- certainly terrain that Phoenix Rising hasn't trodden in many years.  Plus, an abandoned tent and a seemingly abandoned truck, and a backcheck five at the very end that brought Nipple Knocker in just behind the FRBs.  Isn't he good to find the nice backcheck for everyone?  The walkers braved the creek and strolled down to the Potomac, and found it looking hale and appropriately pastoral.

Oh, if the Marine Corps knew what he was doing with that training...

The On In offered beer in cans -- Flowerkraut loves Simpler Times -- plus Black Box wine and a bottle of bubblesy, Caribbean-style ham casserole (black-eyed peas for vegetarians), salad with tomatoes from E.S.'s garden, watermelon from same and oatmeal cookies warm from the oven.  The 24 hashers who'd managed to figure out this whole Saturday-afternoon-time-change thing basked in the sunshine from the redwood deck, counting critters spotted:  one fox, one turtle, a black snake, many deer, and approximately 7,000 cobwebs, with which pretty much everyone was festively festooned.  Also a frog, on which Matt, or maybe someone else, almost stomped.  You must not step on frogs!

No one's used to leaving the hash before sunset, and Flowerkraut likes people to stick around.

The Mufti had much to celebrate in his roll call.  Blow in the Hole made it back to the Hash, since no one schedules music-history classes for Saturday afternoons.  Paula made 55, ooh.  Todd and Candy made #1, although as their "Got Shiggy?" shirts made clear, that's #1 for the GF, not for the H3.  Perhaps they will become regulars with us, as they once were with the Okinawa H3 -- but they've got a lot of hashing options in the DC area.  If you take a look at the pictures (thanks, Irene and NipK!), you might quite reasonably think nothing could get better than the GFH3.