The horror! The horror!

Saturday is Halloween, when unclean things stalk the earth and wreak vengeance on mortal man. With that in mind, this week's SH3 run will be set by Buckyardo and will be from a completely new runsite in a completely new area as can be seen from the maps below which seem to depict an area somewhere to the North of the Malaysian border - but don't count on it!

A general map of South East Asia - Thailand is in the middle

A more detailed map of where unclean things will be stalking the earth this Saturday

For those more comfortable with verbal instructions:

Songkhla Hash House Harriers' run #1793, Saturday 31st October, 2015, 4:30 p.m.

Hares: Yardstick and Buck

Misdirections: From the Kao Saeng intersection take the old Yala road to the NYR / OYR intersection, at the Ang Thong traffic lights (or get there along the New Yala road from the Ko Yo intersection). From the traffic lights proceed south on the old Yala road (OYR) for 8.3k then turn right at the hash sign just before the mosque. Proceed 3k along the bitumen & concrete road through the village following hash signs or paper to the runsite on the concrete road.

If you are coming from Hatyai, go to the intersection of Kanchanawanit road and Route 43 (the Klong La intersection, beyond Macro) and head East along route 43 towards Chana for 20.6k (which is 7.8k beyond the junction with the 3031 from Wat Nern Pitchit). Turn left at the hash sign for 2.3k along the concrete road, to the runsite on the concrete road.

Sunday's HH3 run will attempt to restore some good Kharma to proceedings  by revisiting the site of last Tuesday's Full Moon H3 run, which in case you missed it, was notable for the large turnout of locals from Ban Wong and Napong who graced the occasion and in our honour put on a Nantalung at the run site! On a less auspicious note, Sex Sprinter managed to drop Buk Toy's GPS during the setting of the run, but happily a thorough search the following day was successfull in locating it - still devotedly recording it's location despite having been thoroughly doused by a monsoon during the night. To propitiate the deity who restored this ancient navigational artifact to its rightful owner, Sex Sprinter will be donating to the run on Sunday (you know what's coming next!)... a tray of 50 eggs (Ha! Fooled you!). For the uninitiated, the run site will be: From the Ko Yo intersection take the old Hatyai road for 4k and turn left then go 5.2k (don't go straight ahead at 4k but follow the road as it bends round to the right) and turn left (opposite the temple arch for Wat Borogam) then follow the road for 400m to the runsite. Not sure if the Nantalung will still be there but it might be an idea to bring some earplugs just in case!

Finally, a couple of things in town this weekend: There is a quiz night on Friday evening at the Office bar (8:00 p.m.) when the much reduced SH3 team will take on a strengthened (i.e. Chris, who is quiz-master, will not be in it so Eightball will be able to get all the answers right!) teachers' team as well as the resurgent Auld Alliance who these days seem to be mainly composed of the French and the Germans! Come along and support, participate or just to generally poke fun at us if we lose

Then on Saturday the final of the Rugby World Cup kicks off at 11:00 p.m. and there will likely be a couple of venues available to watch it in town, notably the Corner Bier and the Office Bar where Carsten is going to be putting on some free grub. Probably best to select the one where Stick Insect will NOT be as he is likely to be completely insufferably smug by about 12:30!

October full moon: as..

This month's full moon falls on 27th October which by a happy coincidence is precisely when the next full moon run will be. The hares will be Sex Printer and Toy Boy, the run number will be 122, and the run site will be:
From the Ko Yo intersection take the old Hatyai road for 4k and turn left then go 5.2k (don't go straight ahead at 4k but follow the road as it bends round to the right) and turn left (opposite the temple arch for Wat Borogam) then follow the road for 400m to the runsite either in the open area on the right if it is dry or in the big sala on the left if it is not!

The usual imprecations: bring a hand/headlight if you intend to run and some food if you can manage it. There should be some beer on sale at 40 Baht per can but if you if you want to bring your own that's ok as well.

If anyone needs a lift from Hatyai, Egghead will be picking up Summer (whose hash name at HH3 escapes me!) outside of Satit Mor Or in Poonakan Road at 5:30 p.m. so give him a call (081 9691227) if transport is a problem - transport back to Hatyai later should be easy enough to arrange. There should also be transport available from Songkhla if needed.

Happy birthday SH3!

Yesterday was pretty much 34 years to the day since Crawlback set the first SH3 run and give or take a hare or two and the odd runner, the format hasn't changed much in the intervening years. Yesterday's run (above) was a generous 7.7k with most of the long runners rejecting the option of giving up after 6.3k at the beer stop, but even so the pack made it all the way round in about 1 hr and 15 mins. The high spot was 140m and the total ascent was 220m The short runners who missed out all that macho climbing stuff, completed 3.4k in something under an hour with at least one runner deciding that a single visit to the beer stop was not enough and walking back for another beer!

With the promise of dinner looming, the GM attempted a quick circle but was thwarted by the number of new and returning runners, sinners and even a couple of namees, to be dealt with before the hares were rewarded for their efforts.

Dinner and a party ensued. The food seemed never to run out since as fast as it was eaten the pots were replenished. The effective end of the eating came when Mongolian Fuck Rat took the microphone for the beginning of the karaoke, causing those with normal aural sensitivities to head for the outside tables, leaving the field for the HH3 contingent to sing, dance and drink the night away. They were still at it when the main body of farangs left to go to watch the rugby at about 9:30. Some never made it, waylaid by flat batteries and in Gan Yao's case the front room carpet where he is alleged to have fallen asleep.

No doubt there will be more tales told this afternoon at the HH3 run which, in case you hadn't heard is now at Kuanjong as per the (repeated) map below.

So for now it's on on to HH3 today, a full moon run on Tuesday, the 1800th run on 19th December and SH3's 35th birthday one year from now. Are we up for that?

Online run info

Finally I've found a really comprehensive website showing running events in Thailand: forrunnersmag. The articles and forums are in Thai, but the run listings are available in English. There are also star-rated evaluations of past runs, so you can see how runners liked them.

Note that the main page shows only races during the current week (and in a typical week there are about a dozen nationwide). Click on the Race Events link to see all upcoming events.

But a bit of a rant now. One promising-looking listing is the Central 10 Miles International on Dec. 31. It's convenient (starts at Central Festival in Hatyai), on a good non-hash day (Thursday), and an interesting distance. But look carefully and you'll see that "international" runners -- that's us -- pay more than Thai nationals. Oh, and they do that pathetic old trick of listing local prices in Thai numerals, so those dumb farang can't read them.

Even the national parks here give the lame reason that they charge non-Thais more because they don't pay national taxes. What's Central's excuse? It seems to me that if you put "International" in the name of your event, you might not want to discriminate against people on the basis of where they come from. I don't know how common this practice is in Thailand, but as far as I'm concerned, Central and anyone else who does this can take their race and shove it up their butts.

We're smokin!

Free dinner anyone?

Well! Just goes to show that boring old capitalist lackey doesn't know what he's talking about... because this Saturday, the SH3 34th birthday run will be from Tung Jaeng and will feature FREE DINNER (conditions apply: read the small print below). Just turn up on Saturday and register for this fabulous event at the all inclusive price of 60 Baht (excluding alcoholic beverages of all types) and you will be treated to not only a fabulous athletic experience but also, without any additional cost, the gastronomic feast of the century as chef Jeow creates a wonderful meal to rival all the other wonderful meals that we've had recently at  Tung Jaeng, while you enjoy entertainment* and free-flowing libations ** courtesy of the Hash.
*karaoke
**water - all other drinks are to be purchased from the beer truck or from Tung Jaeng or brought along at your own expense.
Details:
Songkhla Hash House Harriers' run #1792, Saturday October 24th 2015, 4:30 p.m. (this is an A-B run so please respect the temporal limitations or risk being stranded at the B site and forced to drown your sorrows in beer!)
Hares: Crackwurst, Only a Yolk, Meals on Wheels and Swings & Roundabouts with free technical adviser Harram (who has set more runs than the rest of 'em put together!)
Misdirections: From The Kao Seng intersection take the old Yala road for 11k and turn right at the Ang Thong intersection into the new Yala road for 1.4k to the Tung Jaeng restaurant on the left. (If you are coming from the Ko Yo intersection take the the new Yala road towards the Ang Thong intersection and take the final U turn (just before Ang Thong) and go back westwards for about 1.3k)

Small print: This offer applies only to those who were born on a day containing the letter A and in a month not beginning with the letter P. Additionally any person with 3 legs will be excluded (in fact will probably be physically ejected since they would be likely to be faster than the old farts who run this f***ing hash. Finally in order to qualify for this offer you must have attended a hash within the GM's living memory and/or be young, nubile and compliant or at least recognisably human and not suffering from a plague of warts.

Sunday's HH3 run will be set by Robocop and is from a run site in the road opposite Wat Poo Kgao Lom which is along the road to Ban Nai Lai (and not from near Wat Nam Noi Nok as previously advised). Map below: From Songkhla head down Poonakan from Wat Keoy Kloy for about 7k and turn left at the hash sign then follow the road for about 3k and turn right when indicated to do so.

Got the shirt, got the pussy

Final instructions

Just in case!

Nakhon Sri ThammaNOT!

At the risk of revealing all to the car ralliers who are assembling as we write, here are the details of the route to today's HH3 outstation run which is somewhere in the region of Ruen Thai Taksina in Trang and nowhere near Nakhon Sri Thammarat as rumoured. Anyone fancying joining the event could be there in about 2 hours - just head north from the end of the new Hatyai road for about 120k past Taksin University's Trang campus and look for a sign on the left. The resort is about 7k West of the main road.

Mai wing!

This weekend is the Hatyai Hash outstation run somewhere in Nakhon Sri Thammarat - the details of exactly where are being kept a closely guarded secret to avoid spoiling the fun for those who are going on the car rally on Saturday morning. If you are joining in the car rally then you need to be at Buk Toy's yard tomorrow (Thursday) evening to witness the draw and to collect your car stickers. Even if you are not going on the rally you will still be welcome to join the evening which starts at 6:00 p.m. and will finish when the beer runs out.

If you are going on the outstation run but can't make the car rally, information on its whereabouts can be obtained by calling Egghead (081 9691227) on Friday evening when the details will be known to him!

For those who will be in Songkhla this weekend, there will be no official SH3 run, nor, obviously will there be an HH3 run on Sunday. There were mutterings last week about arranging an unofficial get-together, details of which will be posted here later if it happens and we get to hear about it. But the smart money is on loitering about at Bai Meang around 4:30 p.m. on Saturday and just seeing who turns up!

Mel's blog and why you should run, fast and have sex but not necessarily drink beer (but red wine is ok)

As promised on Saturday, for those of you who missed Raccoon Ass's blog post scurrilously accusing the GM of lacking charisma, here is the URL: http://multicontinentaladventureswithmelanie.blogspot.com/2015/09/group-exercise-experimentation-taking.html
And just in case you weren't at HH3 yesterday or aren't a TED subscriber check this one out to discover why sex, running, red wine and fasting are ok but beer, sadly, is not: http://www.ted.com/talks/sandrine_thuret_you_can_grow_new_brain_cells_here_s_how?utm_source=newsletter_weekly_2015-10-10&utm_campaign=newsletter_weekly&utm_medium=email&utm_content=talk_of_the_week_image

1791: A hint!

The hares have done their stuff and the details are:
Songkhla Hash House Harriers run #1790, Saturday October 10, 2015, 4:30 p.m.
Hares: Eight ball and Keeling with some minors who may for the time being remain nameless.
Misdirections: From the Ko Yo Intersection take the new Yala road for 3.5k to the run site on the left.

HH3 on the other hand have not done their stuff and we will have to await details of their run on Sunday 11th October which will no doubt be announced on Saturday.

Don't....

The process of aloting haring duties and selecting a runsite which is the Hash's way of bringing a run to you every Saturday is just taking a little longer than usual to come up with the details. So remain calm and be assured that all will become clear shortly... later today; well at latest by tomorrow morning.

1790 yesterday and HH3 today

There was a hint of nostalgia about today's SH3 run set by the Throbbin' family plus absentees Raccoon Ass and Olive Oyle, which took us up the track above Wat Keow Geow and then after a bit of loopy stuff at the top, back down the rocky trail to the runsite. Five and a half k give or take a bit of creative checking with the front runners probably home in about an hour and the last of the short runners, who were required to do most of the hill, taking a good bit longer, particularly those who have difficulty talking and following paper at the same time.
Four new runners: Jamie from Oklahoma, Konstantine from Russia and Leigh and Kanda joining our growing Saffer contingent. Lots of fun at a fairly raucous circle then on on to watch the rugby if you were up for it!
Today's HH3 run was described yesterday as Poonakan-Tungnai but is actually not far from Na Mom. From Wat Keow Kloy head down Poonakan for about 5.5k and turn left just before Wat Tungnai. Then follow the road past last week's HH3 runsite for 3.95k and look for a sign. The hares are probably Robocop and Sex Sprinter.

If I were going there I wouldn't be starting from here!

Click to massify!

This week's runsite is illustrated above for those who are allergic of sentences containing too many conjunctions and sequencers! But for those with a strong stomach, the directions are:

Songkhla Hash House Harriers' run #1790, Saturday 3rd October 2015, 4:30 p.m.
Hares: Throbbin Hood, Just in - not yet,  Raccoon Ass and Olive Oyle.
Misdirections: From the Kao Seng intersection take the Hatyai road for 4.5k and turn left into Soi 34 and go 350m, then keep left and continue for a little less than 200m, then keep left again, then go 75m and turn right and drive for 300m to the run site. If you are coming from Hatyai or anywhere beyond the Ko Yo intersection, take Kanchanawanich road heading for Songkhla for 2.6k from the intersection and U turn then come back 550m to Soi 34 then head for the conjunctions!

Hatyai H3 on Sunday? I couldn't give a toss 'cos I'm gonna be in Bangkok! Oh, Ok, it's not been announced yet; but information will undoubtedly be available tomorrow at SH3 so you'll just have to come along to find out.