How much longer can we go on doing this?

        No, this is not some deep existential question about the role of hashing in a materialist world, but a thinly veiled reference to the imminent disappearance of the virgin with three tits as the quarries on the North side eat ever closer to the ridge and will presumably eventually eat away the whole central section of the hill. As it is it is now very difficult to visit all three peaks in one run as the middle one has to all intents and purposes disappeared, and getting to what is left from the eastern peak would involve descending the hill on the western flank as we did today and then reascending on the northern side of the hole in the middle.
        So today's run only took in half the hill and barely touched the north eastern side leaving that to be covered in a future run if the diggers don't get in first. The long run took an hour, was about 6.4k without the checks, 8k with them all included. The total ascent was about 160m and the high point was 110m at the second 360. The short run had pretty much the same ascent and hit the same high point, but was only 3.4k though it took the short runners (barring Eightball who should have been doing the long run anyway!) slightly over an hour.

Not a pussy weekend

Following a bizarre incident involving a green bean, a goat and a case of Leo, Only a Yolk is nursing an injured foot this week so cannot participate in laying this weekend's 2 runs as originally intended. Thus the whole pack of cards which is the pussy posse collapses in a heap, leaving two vacant slots, into which leap...you've guessed it, Egghead and Robocop, respectively on Saturday and Sunday. Som Nom Na!
So Saturday's hastily rearranged SH3 run will be:
Songkhla Hash House Harriers' run #1806, Saturday 29th January 2016, 4:30 p.m.
Hares: Egghead, White Meat, Harram and Ma Mick if he's good.
Misdirections: From the Kao Saeng intersection, take the old Yala road for 16k and turn right before Wat Kun Thong. Go 1k and turn right and follow the track for about 250m into the old quarry (apologies in advance for the puddles - if you don't want to drive through them, park on the main track and walk the last 100m to the run site.)
Sunday's run site is yet to be announced so will have to be posted here later.

Half-marathon hound

Her tongue is hanging out almost as far as ours were when we crossed the finish line in Angkor, but her time was a lot faster: 1:32:56. Read the story here.

Flag-waving Saffers

And meanwhile the farang identity of both SH3 and HH3 is coming under the increasing domination of the South African contingent. There are even rumors afoot of attempts to elect one of their own as the next GM. Say it isn't so, Cronies!

Passing of the torch, er, stick

A new generation takes charge of the HH3 selfie stick . . . .

Today's misdirections and Milton's Funeral

The directions to today's Hatyai H3 run, which is being set by Robocop, are:
From the Ko Yo intersection take the old Hatyai road for 4.7k and turn left for 7.2k (about 1.2k beyond Tha Kham) then turn left for about 650m to the run site on the right.

As far as is known, Milton's funeral will be on Friday (January 29th) at Wat Laem Sai. At yesterday's Hash it was agreed that we would try to attend the prayers the evening before (Thursday) at about 7:00 p.m.

Spot the difference

SH3 run 1805: Long run: 6.2k, total ascent about 350m, max height:239m. First runner home in about 1 hr 30 mins. Short run: 3.1k.

Full moon 125: Long run 7.2k, total ascent about 50m, max height 34m. First runner home in 59 mins. Short run 3,9k.

Yes, you've got it, the long run is in red on the top one and in green on the bottom one and vice-versa for the short runs!

R.I.P. Milton

February 2011

The next 4 days:

First up a reminder that tonight (Thursday) there is a Full Moon Hash run, details of which are below. The weather looks good and the moon should be up by the time we run; and the hare reports a solid, dry, flat, traily long run with a "civlized" short run. So do come along and join us at 7:00 p.m.

Next, chronologically speaking, there is a quiz night tomorrow evening (Friday, 22nd January 2016, 8:00 p.m.) at the Office Bar when the quiz master will be Eric le Frog, and host, Carsten will be giving us a rundown on how our contributions last year went to help the blind kids. More pertinently, the Hash team, hopefully back at full strength (in the loosest possible sense of the word), will be trying to put November's crushing defeat behind them. So come along and try to put a stop to that!

Saturday's SH3 details are:
Songkhla Hash House Harriers run #1805, Saturday 23rd January 2016, 4:30 p.m.
Hares: Egghead and Harram, with moral support from White Meat and Ma Mick
Misdirections: From the Kao Seng intersection take the old Yala road for 16k and turn right just before Wat Kun Thong. Go 3.5k and turn left just after the big tree, then go 150m and bear right, then follow signs for about 1k to the runsite on the concrete road behind Sai Kao village.

Finally, Sunday's HH3 run will be set by GM Robocop; where has yet to be announced but will be advised later if known before the day.

Full Moon 125

Click to make it bigger

This month's full moon falls on Saturday, so the Full Moon Hash run has been brought forward 2 days to Thursday.
Details are:
Hatyai Full Moon Hash House Harriers' run #125, Thursday January 21, 2016, 7:00 p.m.
Hare: Kai Jeow
Misdirections: (From Songkhla) from the Ko Yo intersection take the old Hatyai road for 3.25k and turn left (almost opposite the Honda motorcycle dealership and precisely opposite the final U turn before the Kuan Hin traffic lights). Go 650 meters and turn right, then go 200 meters and turn left across the open area to the run site at the far end. (From Hatyai) take the old Songkhla road for 13.6k from the Ko Hong intersection (650m past the Kuan Hin traffic lights) and turn right at the U turn opposite the Honda motorcycle dealership. follow the road for 650m etc.
Usual stuff applies: bring a hand/head-light if you intend to run and some food if you feel like it. Full Moon Special Brew will be on sale at 40 Baht a can but if you want to bring your own beer and share it with your mates, that's OK too.

It never ends

Selfie #3,214, from yesterday's hash.

Slightly off-course

Yesterday's HH3 run. Actual track in black, as recorded by Lady of the Lamp. Totally wrong-way improvisation in orange, by Sex Focus.

This is what can happen when you carry on the wrong way at a check because you assume you know where the paper is going. Instead of turning hard left at the 360 halfway up the first hill, Palm Job, Sex Black Man and I continued up the main track (now overgrown and just barely passable), thinking we'd meet the paper when we turned left at the top. Well, we didn't. I got as far as the Mini-Monster runsite at the top of the paved road above the Aw Baw Taw, then turned around as you can see and ran back along the road. PJ and SBM evidently carried on up the big hill and at some point found their way down to the left.

A monster in the making?

So here's the combination: Yardo's run yesterday in blue, my recce gone all wrong in red. (You'll need to click on this to see it.) Between the two of them they suggest a nice way between Wat Noen Phijit and the Old Yala Rd., which is one of the longest A-to-B runs we can do without crossing any real roads. I reckon 12km or so minimum. The bigger problem is that the truck between the two sites would take nearly half an hour. Anyhow I'll set it if enough of you promise to run it!

Run 1804

Nothing complicated about Saturday's run, just run from A to B, so that's what we did, in more or less a straight line. The run was 8.7kms including the 6 false trails and 3 check-backs. There were a further 7 checks thrown in to try and slow down the front runners, but that didn't deter Sex Sprinter who managed to crack nearly all of them on his first try and came in well ahead of the pack in about 1 hour and 10 minutes. The run took the long runners over the top of the ridge in a nice gentle up, of about 280m, but a rather steep and slippery run down a new construction track which was built crossing all our old scenic mountain trails. Because of the potentially failing light due to predicted thunderstorms, the end of the run was cut short and the road option was taken to eliminate the possibility of lost runners.
The short run was a scenic walk of about 3.3kms around the base of the ridge, although the paper squares had to be re-laid twice due to the heavy rains in the area on Thursday and Friday nights. The total ascent on the short run was about 100m.

Hash dogs

Let's face it, it's their hash. They just let us come along.

Hare's logic

This weekend's SH3 run will be an A-B so prospective runners are asked to make an effort to be at the run site no later than 4:25 p.m. or to give someone a call to say that they are on their way, so that the transport to the A site can leave promptly at 4:30. Details are:

Songkhla Hash House Harriers' run #1804, Saturday January 16th 2016, 4:30 p.m.
Hares: Yardstick and Last Lover
Misdirections: From the Kao Seng intersection take the old Yala road for 16k and turn right just before Wat Kun Thong. Go 3.5k and turn left just after the big tree, then go 800m (straight ahead at 150m) to the run site on the old football field at 07 02 01.00 N 100 37 28.70 E,
or see the map below.


Sunday's HH3 run details now announced and are as per the map below:

1803

Long run, 7.1k, or 8.8k with all the (10!) F's and the check-back included. 7 of the 8 runners made it to the beer stop in about 1hr 15mins so the whole run must have been one and a half hours plus, with the final runner, Buk Toy never arriving having been lured by the chanting from Watt Sai Kao to head off in the opposite direction, eventually being picked up on the road by Sex Sprinter at about 7:00 p.m. Maximum height was 295m at 360 5 per Google Earth; with the GPS at one point advising that the run hit sea level (unlikely as Yardo and Beaver point out!) the total ascent was big - in the region of 450m but that was also a GPS advised figure so could also be wrong. On after was at Steak Ne Suan, where All Black discovered that she doesn't like Salmon and Harram discovered that she does!

Egg first

Egghead's first run of the year is a nostalgic return to the bit if country that he, Yardo and Sex Sprinter have shared over the last few years with Yardo probably taking the edge for run quality, Egg shading it on quantity. But there are the usual surprises in store, like "Whoa! Where did all that rubber go?" and " Boy, this bit's got really overgrown!" So let's hope it can live up to the great start to the year that Beaver gave us last weekend.
Details are:
Songkhla Hash House Harriers' run #1803, Saturday, January 9, 2016, 4:30 p.m.
Hares: Egghead and the mutts
Misdirections: From the Ko Yo intersection take the old Hatyai road for 4.7k and turn left for 6k then turn left at the Tha Kham crossroads and go 4.2k to the run site on the right opposite whatever is being constructed next to the Sai Kao Resort.  (map coordinates:7 02 21.62N 100 36 34.65E)

Sunday's HH3 run is being set by Robocop and will be from beyond Wat Noen Pijit on the football field at 6 59 16.59N 100 34 18.25E. Traditional directions are: From the Ko Yo intersection take the old Hatyai road for 4.7k then turn right for 11k to Wat Noen Pijit, then follow the road round to the right for a further 1k and turn right and follow the road for about 900m to the run site on the right.

Danny's revenge run

"Vengeance is mine!" cackled Pong Ning, the Hatyai alter ego of In-U-Endo, as the unsuspecting pack set off into the relentless hills south of Route 43 yesterday. Well actually we did have our suspicions, and this run delivered on them. Some good gentle downhill jogging along winding trails, but mostly painful climbs and treacherous descents. By my GPS it measured 7.14km with about 400m of ascent and a high point of 250m. Most of us came in around the 1:32 mark, apart from stragglers Bak Toy, Egghead, and -- last in -- Robocop!

Beerhenge

Its origins, lost in the mists of time . . . but probably around 10 pm. on Dec. 30 at Buk Toy's new year's party. Its builders, a mysterious race of druids . . . well, no, most likely just one of the old geezers who were drinking the beer. Beerhenge -- an eternal symbol of man's search for meaning, at least until it was time to clean up all the rubbish.

Today's run

The countryside around today's runsite doesn't seem to like me, and I don't like it much either. Despite that we didn't get too many complaints, maybe partly because the site itself was pleasant, the weather was nice, and there were some good views from the top of the long run. Somebody did say that the short run was "too short", which is entirely true, but that's her own fault for not doing the long run.

Despite my concerns, the long run took the first runner (Sex Sprinter) just 59:38 to complete, and close behind him were new runner South African Ken, then Stick Insect, and, who was it, maybe Innuendo? It was supposed to be about 8km long but everyone somehow shortcut a kilometer or so at the bottom. Total ascent of around 300m and a highest point of 260m -- the huts on the grassy hill.

Now where did I put that runsite?

As there seems to be a little confusion (from our Misdirectionist, of course) over today's runsite, here's an illustrated guide to getting there. I'm tempted to call it "foolproof", but then as Mark Twain said, it's almost impossible to make something foolproof because fools are so damned ingenious.

- From the Kaw Yaw intersection take the Old Hatyai Road 4.7km and turn left onto the familiar road to Na Mom, Route 3031.

- After 8km or so you'll see Wat Khao Kloy and the start of Punnakan Road on your right. Keep on going straight.

- After just over 2km more, on your left you'll see the road I've used for my last few runs around here. If you read Thai (or even if you don't), it's called Thanon Saai Naak Song, and the sign looks like this:

Do not turn left here. Carry another 500m, no more and no less, to the next left turn. It's called Thanon Saai Hin Lap and here's what it looks like:

Note the red hash "sign" attached to the . . . oh no, it seems to be falling off! Well I hope it's still there this afternoon. Due to a slight curve in the main road you may not see this sign until you are zooming past the soi. So slow down, OK?

(For some reason Egghead wants you to cross the 7° N parallel and go a couple hundred meters further to a road that curves around into the Wat Phijit temple complex. As at all Thai temples, as a white person you are at risk there of being captured and used as a human sacrifice. Worth the gamble? I don't think so!)

- Anyhow, turn left onto Thanon Saai Hin Lap, a nice paved road to nowhere. Go 1.6km and on your left you will see another hash sign:

 

Turn left here and go 400m on the dirt road to the runsite at the Y. For those into such things, its coordinates are 7° 0'14.37"N 100° 35'58.78"E. If neither the hare nor anybody else is there yet, you can tell it's the runsite from this downward-pointing arrow:

And now all you have to do is start drinking heavily and don't expect much from the run. Though as bad as it may be, I have a suspicion that the live-hare short run will be even worse!

From Portland with love!

Thanks to Run Oregon for the graphics!

Beaver's in the lodge for the first run of the New Year as presaged below. Let's hope he got it right in the end!
Details are:

Songkhla Hash House Harriers' run #1802, Saturday January 2, 2016, 4:30 p.m.
Hare: Beavershot
Misdirections: From the Ko Yo intersection take the old Hatyai road for 4.7k and turn left for 10.7k. Turn left*, go 1.6k and then left again for 400m to the runsite. (*Note that this is the next left turn off the main road about 500m after the one used for Beaver's last few runs from Noen Phijit. the turn off is at 6 59 57.47 N 100 34 59.44 E. [Note from the hare: no it's not! It's at  7° 0' 2.56"N 100° 34' 58.29"E !!] If you come to Wat Noen Phijit you've gone too far!)

Also, just a reminder that although we are now permanently running at 4:30, the beer truck has been retimed and now leaves Bai Meang at 3:00 p.m. to ensure that it gets to the run site in good time.

Sunday's  HH3 hare is Pong Ning, a.k.a. In-U-Endo and the run site is Na Mom'ish on Route 43. Coming from the Klong Wah intersection beyond Macro take route 43 for about 7.3k and do a U turn, then come back 1.5 k and turn left then follow the track into the quarry at 6 57 24.72 N 100 31 41.71 E . If you are coming from Songkhla however the better way is to follow Saturday's directions (above) then just keep going past Wat Noen Phijit for another 2.5k until you hit Route 43, then turn right for about 7k when the entrance to the quarry will be on your left.