Two sprints and a sticky quiz

Sex (S)printer is setting both the runs this weekend. First up is Saturday's SH3 run for which the details are:
Songkhla Hash House Harriers' run #1845, Saturday 29th October 2016, 4:30 p.m.
Hare: Sex Sprinter and friends
Misdirections: From the Kao Seng intersection take the old Yala road for 16k and turn right before Wat Khun Thong, then go 1k and turn left to the run site.
From Hatyai, get to the Tha Kham intersection and take the road East for about 6k to the big tree, then go straight ahead towards Wat Khun Thong for 2.5k and turn right into the run site.
Sunday's (30th October) HH3 run will be from Superpig's house behind the abattoir on Poonakan Road: From Wat Keow Kloy go about 10k down Poonakan and turn left into Soi 10 for about 200m to the runsite on the left. From the turn off Kanjanawit Road at the bottom of Poonakan, Soi 10 is about 1k up and the turn is on the right.
Before all that there is a quiz night at the Office Bar on Friday (28th October) evening at 8:00 p.m. for which the quiz master will be Stick Insect. The hash team is hoping to attract a defection from amongst the ranks of the opposition to fill the hole left by SI, but all comers are welcome.

Saturday's track

Here, courtesy of Beavershot, is a track of Saturday's long run which got up to just over 200 meters and was 7.5k as the Beaver runs. Impressive use of the countryside by the hares; so impressive that a number of alleged FRB's were reduced to the short run at HH3 yesterday!

Men with sheep (and today's HH3 misdirections)

No comment necessary, but what about that T shirt!

Today's HH3 runsite is on the road heading up Kao Long: From Hatyai get to the Tha Kham crossroads and head East towards Sai Kao for 5.4k. Turn left a under the three quarters-built temple arch and go 600m then take the left fork for a further 1k to the run site on the right. From Songkhla, the quickest route is from the old Yala road on the road that goes past Wat Kao Lam (right at 11.8k from the Kao Seng intersection, or 1k South of the Ang Thong Junction of the new and old Yala roads). Follow the road for about 4k including across 2 crossroads and as it bends gracefully through 2 villages, then at the junction with the Kao Long road turn right for 1k to the run site on the right.

Men without goats

SH3 celebrated its midlife crisis in style yesterday, starting with an excellent A-to-B run followed by one of our biggest circles in recent years, thanks to our Samui H3 visitors. Then there was food and drink aplenty, carrying on till midnight for the hardcore. Really the only thing lacking were the promised farm animals. Apparently the resort had the good sense to lock them away for the duration. Here are a few shots from a somewhat impaired photographer.

The Hatyai and Songkhla GMs oversee the beer supply.

Two of the three hares return from their lay.

The Conebrain family arrives.

The serious drinking begins.

Short Screw licks the Knob.

Sex Black Man, or as Yardstick calls him, Black Sex Man.

Men without goats . . . it's not a pretty sight.

Bus-ted

The hares have announced that tomorrow's birthday runs (both of them) will be A-B so we will be departing from the run site at 4:30 p.m. sharp and borrowing our guests big green disco bus to get to the A sites. Therefore if you intend to join either the short or the long runs, please try to get to the restaurant a bit before 4:30 so as not to miss the transport.

For those not intending to run, the restaurant are very happy that we hang out there and take advantage of their facilities (but that doesn't include taking advantage of the goats, In-u-endo!) The circle will follow the runs, probably at around 6:00 p.m.and dinner will be served at 7:00 p.m.

Incidentally, our guests from Koh Samui H3 will be around town tonight so if you see them say hello and make them welcome.

SH3's 35th Birthday

This week's run is Songkhla Hash's 35th birthday run and will take place at Suan Ahan Gor, a Goat! (กรกช) and is open to all comers.

Gor, a goat! Blow up of the petting
zoo for those with a goaty inclination

There will be a run, dinner, tasteful entertainment and free booze  and a haute couture addition to your hash wardrobe designed by Yves St. Oeuf. Regular SH3 members who have done at least 5 runs in the last year will pay 250 Baht (kids, 150), or 400 Baht for named runners with less than 5 runs to their name this year (kids 250 Baht or 150 without a T shirt). Guests and new runners are 700 Baht (kids 400) but anyone up for naming on the day gets to pay only 400 Baht. Got all that?

Details are:
Songkhla Hash House Harriers' run #1844, Saturday, October 22nd, 2016, 4:30 p.m.
Hares: Throbbin' Hood, Pee Wee and Olive Oyle
Misdirections: From the dreaded Ko Yo intersection take the new Hatyai road for 7.5k and turn left into the entrance to the restaurant. To avoid the Ko Yo intersection, which is likely to be bunged up as usual, take the lake road out of Songkhla and at the traffic lights at Songkhla Hospital, go straight ahead, then follow the road for about 3k onto the New Hatyai road. Do a U turn immediately and follow the NHR west for 5.1k to the restaurant on the left.

From Hatyai, take Lopburi Ramesuan Road for 11k from the Big C turn off and do a U turn (beyond the restaurant which is on the right hand side of the road). Come back 850m and turn left into the restaurant.

The beer truck will be operating as usual if you don't fancy driving and will leave the Hot Bread Shop at 3:00 p.m. There will also be a bus load of guests from Koh Samui Hash joining us, so anyone wanting to return to Songkhla after the party should be able to hitch a ride back on their bus.

Sunday's HH3 hare is Sex Printer but details of the whereabouts are currently unknown, i.e. if we were told we've forgotten, and will be added to this post later.

The close ties between exercise and beer

From the New York Times, further evidence that exercise and beer are made for each other. For their latest study, scientists used lab rats rather than hashers (they're better behaved) and discovered an interaction between running and drinking that we already know about:

". . . while the animals’ brains responded similarly to the two activities, they did not respond identically, the past studies show. There are aspects of reward processing related to exercise that differ from reward processing related to drinking, and those differences may help to explain why, if given the opportunity, animals will avidly engage in both running and ethanol sipping. The resulting neurological high appears to be generally more pervasive and lasting than with either activity alone."

Read the whole article here.

Just make it stop

Just 5.5km and under 400m of ascent. That doesn't sound so bad, does it? Don't believe it!

Whenever Robocop describes one of his runs as "wing sabaai" we know we're in trouble, but nobody could have guessed just how tortuous yesterday's effort would be. It was on Hatyai's nastiest hill, for a start, and apart from a couple stretches of actual running (visible at the bottom and middle right above), it consisted entirely of ridiculously steep ascents immediately followed by even steeper descents. And repeat, then repeat again. The man is clearly a freak of nature and feels neither pain nor fatigue so he has no idea what he's doing to us. At least it was in keeping with the current ban on entertainment: there wasn't as much as a moment of pleasure.

About half the long runners found excuses not to do the whole thing, including Sex Sprinter and Tsunami, who totally lost the plot while attempting to shortcut, and Khai Jiao, who was chasing down his new dog, who was clearly no more keen to do this run than the rest of us. In the end barely a half dozen of us came in on paper, the first (Sex Black Man) in 1:26.

In retrospect there was a kind of perverse majesty to it, and as so often, a hellish run made for an excellent circle. For the children there was broad physical humor, like Robocop's epic fart on the ice. For the adults, salacious references to Sex Sprinter's "favorite resort" and Robocop's "business trip" to Bangkok next weekend. Somehow you don't expect these kinds of things to be aired in front of the whole hash, including wives, some of whom were not looking totally amused. But then I'll never understand Thais.

Today's HH3 run and SH3's birthday run.

In case you missed it at yesterday's SH3 run, today's HH3 run is somewhere down the Ban Nai Lai road: from Wat Keow Kloy take Poonakan for about 7.5k and turn left then follow the road until you see a sign (on the left?). From the Kanjanawanit junction with Poonakan it is 3.5k and a right turn. The run starts at 4:00 p.m.

Also, next week's SH3 35th birthday run will take place as planned next Saturday. More details will be posted/sent out early in the week.

Twisted long & simple short

The long run (in green) measured about 7.5km including false trails and checkbacks (3 of which you can see here at the first check). Total ascent was roughly 350m. First runners back in 1:09. The short run (in red) was about 4.5km.

Despite my best efforts to lay a run which wouldn't lose anyone, a late-arriving Khan Khai and two friends made the mistake of asking All Black which paper to follow for the short run. It is unclear whether AB answered incorrectly or if there was just some kind of communication problem, but in any case the latecomers went in search of squares, which were in fact the long run. So they ended up out in the dark for a bit, until sensibly they just turned around and came back the way they'd gone out. The lesson here is that if you don't hear the hare himself say it, there's no assurance you're going to be on the right paper.

Anyhow it was a fine turnout of 50+ runners, and both the runs and the Isaan food, including som tam prepared on the spot by Temporary Relief and Handjob, got good reviews. Evidently the true hardcore eater/drinkers carried on to Thung Jaeng.

Strange beaver

It was supposed to be round and simple, like Gan Yao. But now it's looking more short and twisted, like Innuendo. Anyhow it's unlikely to be nearly as hard work as either of last weekend's runs, and odds are you won't get lost either. Plus Handjob is already starting to prepare a few of her Isaan specialties.

Songkhla Hash House Harriers run #1843, Saturday, October 15th 2016, 4:30 p.m.

Hare: Beavershot

Misdirections: From the Kaw Yaw intersection, take the Old Hatyai Road for 4.7km and turn left. Proceed about 10.3km (another 2.3km past Wat Khao Kloi) and turn left again. Bear right after 150m and carry on 2.4km to the runsite, coordinates 7°0'50.00"N 100°36'18.44"E. 

A vertical mudfest

And here's yesterday's HH3 run, most likely laid by Sexy and Sex of the Man (the original -- accept no imposters!). It was only about 6km long but felt almost that high, most of which elevation was gained on slippery muddy hillsides not designed to be traversed by man or hasher. In fact total ascent looks to have been just under 400m.

The best feature of this run was a beer stop at the camp on top of the hill, after which Khai Jiao, Inchdick, and Sex Focus walked down the road with beers in hand, frontrunning in style until the former two broke into a totally unnecessary Hollywood finish about 100m from the runsite.

What went wrong

The above is my track from Yardo's run last Saturday. The first half, up to the upper right-hand corner is pretty much where everyone on the long run went. But then you can see that we managed to get onto the medium-run shortcut, which led us back to the trail we'd come in on. Jim was first to realize we were going the wrong way, so he and Short Screw and I turned around and did the rest of the run as shown. By the time we got to the lower left corner it was getting dark and Jim decided to cut left cross-country back to the runsite. Fortunately that worked out better for us than for a few of the medium runners.

So my resolution for next week's run: it's going to be round and simple. And easier than either of last weekend's runs, which if anybody didn't notice, were both kind of extreme. Yardo and I agreed that both were tougher (and longer, in time if not distance) than our Vietnam Mountain 10k race two weeks before.

In line with past efforts to conserve the countryside and confine our runs into a small an area as possible, this week’s run was folded several times to mostly fit within the boundaries of the previous weeks run. There was also a certain degree of envy on the part of the hare of the length and breadth of the previous hare’s run, So maintaining a similar length, but in a smaller package, slightly more uppers were achieved, however failing to reach the same heady heights.

Sadly in an effort to accommodate a middle class of runners, the hare over extended and in an effort to jury-rig a new track by laying additional paper, he not only led the front runners astray he also managed to lose the very people he was trying to help. Lucky enough and through the very much appreciated help of the local village people, and of course other hashers, Allblack, Eightball, Big Tool & Little Tool were returned to the fold by about 8.00pm after a slight deviation.

For the statistically inclined the long run encompassed an area of 0.6 sq km, of which the short run contained 0.4sq km. Egghead’s run in comparison covered 2.0 sq km. The total length of the long run was 9.1 km, marginally longer than the previous week’s tortuous run of 9.0km. Overall height gained was 416m at a maximum height of 152m. The short run overall length was 3.4 km and total ascent of just over 100m.

What was that run number again?

This week SH3 are back in the same general area as last week minus the goat f***er, it is to be hoped. Details courtesy of the hare are:

Songkhla Hash House Harriers' run #1842, Saturday October 8th 2016, 4:30 p.m.

Hare: Yardstick

Misdirections: From Songkhla, proceed to the traffic lights at Ang Thong, at the NYR / OYR intersection. From the traffic lights drive south on the Old Yala Road (OYR) for 8.3kms then turn right just before the road to the small mosque on the west side of the OYR (just past the large microwave tower on the east side of OYR). Proceed 2.7kms along the concrete road through the village following hash signs, then turn right onto the dirt road for 200m and right again to the runsite.

If coming from Hatyai, proceed along the New Chana Road (Route 43) for 20.6kms from the (Klong Wa) overpass on the Sadao road, or 7.8kms from the Phichit Road junction. Turn left, (no SH3 signs) for 2.8kms along the concrete road, then turn left onto the dirt road for 200m to the runsite..

Sunday's SH3 run is from the scout camp on top of the big hill behind Na Mom. Access is via the much improved road off the Tung Nai - Na Mom road (Poonakan, 5.5k from Wat Keow Kloy left 3.5k then turn right at the sign and follow the road up the hill, or 5.5k from the Kanjanawanit Rd junction, right 3.5k then turn right at the sign etc.).

A couple of up-coming events: Next weekend the HH3 run (16th October) will be a mini-outstation run in Rathapum in honor of the new GM and will be a bit earlier than normal with a party-ette to follow. The following weekend is the SH3 birthday run (22nd October) which will feature our friends from Koh Samui H3 and will take place at the restaurant with the petting zoo and the windmills on the New Hatyai Road in front of the quarry, whose name escapes me. There will be a run or two, a T shirt, food and all the beer you can drink all for a measly 250 Baht (kids 150 Baht) for regular runners, 500 Baht for less regular runners or 700 Baht for guests. Advanced bookings guaranteeing your choice of T shirt (size and color) can be made this weekend at either the SH3 or HH3 runs.

1841

The long run was 7.3k without the checks, 9k with them, The maximum height at the up-ward X on the 3rd check was 224m and the total ascent about 290m. The short run was 3.9k with the first 1.5k to the beer stop only taking about 20 minutes. The long run had a run-in with a goat farmer which slowed them down and they took over an hour to complete the 5k or so to the beer stop but then polished off the rest of the run before GM Keeling who had opted for the short run made it home as the last straggler on the beer-stop truck. Another big turn-out, topping 50 for the second week in a row. Lots of returning runners and a couple of newbies to boot; a birthday girl and a whole host of sinners made for a raucous circle which went on long after dusk. Plans for a karaoke on-on were thwarted when it was discovered that Tung Jaeng was closed for some obscure religious festival.

Who is this handsome young man?

Thanks to Coney for circulating the Hash History video. In case you haven't watched it . the link is here, and our "stalwart" Gan Yao can be found at 33:16 or thereabouts enjoying John Duncan's spirited rendition of the lobster song.