Social Running/jogging

[wedders]

Any TVers go jogging in and around Chiang Mai, without feeling the need to drink copious amounts of beer and make pratts of themselves a la HHH (Hash House Harriers) afterwards?

Nothing too energetic, 8 minute mile pace at best would suit me fine.

Drop me a PM if interested, or if anyone knows of an antithesis to hashing running club around town.

[ChouDoufu]

how many eight-minute miles? i'm thinking of registering for the upcoming marathon...eight

per mile is just about right.

any recommendations as to running routes? i'm planning on running on cmu campus a couple times a week, as well as one longer run (8-15 miles) along the irrigation canal highway on sundays.

[earlofwindermere]

There are several places where a lot of people go jogging in the city....

700 Year Stadium

Mae Jo University

Some stadium in Saraphi

Huey Tung Tao

If you can't find someone to jog with, try becoming a regular at one of these places.

I jog at Huey Tung Tao in the morning (ie 5:30 am) but the majority of people I've talked to seem to jog in the evenings.

[wedders]

ChouDoufu - that's a bit much for me right now - my 'ultra' days are long gone, and I haven't done any running for a year or so now, since I overdid it and ended up with stress fractures in both feet last time out. I want to start out at around 3-5 miles and see how it goes.

EOW - I'm not so keen on running around a track. But then again if that's all there is as an alternative to the polluted Chiang Mai roads, then it will have to do - at least it's easier on the feet/joints. I rely on tuk-tuks for transport so can't get out of town easily, unfortunately.

[earlofwindermere]

Not all of those places are tracks in the traditional sense. Huey Tung Tao has a 5 km loop, a 3.7 loop around the lake as well as trail running.

700 year stadium has both a track and other running loops and trails as well.

[john b good]

Huey Tung Tao would be my choice if I was in anything like running shape "which I'm not"

It's away from the hustle and bustle and in the morning would be just right.

There would be quite a lot more traffic around the lake in the evening's as it is very popular with many locals and more than a few expats.

[diks]

There are many a hasher who don't drink at all. It's your own call, however it is a social club and beer is the drink of choice. You may want to try a Saturday or Sunday mixed hash, they are definitely lighter on the beer.

Edited September 1, 2009 by diks

[HTWoodson]

There are many a hasher who don't drink at all. It's your own call, however it is a social club and beer is the drink of choice. You may want to try a Saturday or Sunday mixed hash, they are definitely lighter on the beer.

Agreed. The Saturday and Sunday hashes are family hashes. People bring their kids, and the circle is much more toned down. If you don't want to drink you don't have to; many people don't. And if you have your own transportation you don't even have to stay for the circle, some people leave right after the run. No worries.

[wedders]

There are many a hasher who don't drink at all. It's your own call, however it is a social club and beer is the drink of choice. You may want to try a Saturday or Sunday mixed hash, they are definitely lighter on the beer.

Not the one and only hash (guys only) that I went on, that's for sure. There was something rather British public (ie private) school messed up juvenile with a touch of naive American exuberance added in, about the whole 'social' experience. Inadequate mostly 40- 50- 60-somethings, with adolescent minds housed in sagging bodies, needing the kind of peer support structure they once knew as teenage boys giggling about sex behind the bike shed at school. Involving inane rituals with mostly rather perverse sexual undertones, in a bonding session that was lubricated by as much beer as each member could drink, before driving back to town way, way over the limit - then to carry on the 'fun' at Foxy or No. 1. And then, presumably, driving home. But I had managed to escape the zoo by then.

(I'm sure that description will help to add considerably to the numbers for the next all male hash! )

[HTWoodson]

There are many a hasher who don't drink at all. It's your own call, however it is a social club and beer is the drink of choice. You may want to try a Saturday or Sunday mixed hash, they are definitely lighter on the beer.

Not the one and only hash (guys only) that I went on, that's for sure. There was something rather British public (ie private) school messed up juvenile with a touch of naive American exuberance added in, about the whole 'social' experience. Inadequate mostly 40- 50- 60-somethings, with adolescent minds housed in sagging bodies, needing the kind of peer support structure they once knew as teenage boys giggling about sex behind the bike shed at school. Involving inane rituals with mostly rather perverse sexual undertones, in a bonding session that was lubricated by as much beer as each member could drink, before driving back to town way, way over the limit - then to carry on the 'fun' at Foxy or No. 1. And then, presumably, driving home. But I had managed to escape the zoo by then.

(I'm sure that description will help to add considerably to the numbers for the next all male hash! )

Wedders, I did that run with you. The 777 run was a special event run, and the circle went for a looooooooong time, far more than the norm. You had the misfortune to come to one of the longest most rowdy circles of the entire year.

While I appreciate that you didn't have a good time, understandably, you also did not get a clear picture of what a normal hash is like at all. That run was with the "all male" hash which can be a little juvenile at times, and it was a special event run that had been planned for weeks in advance, with a longer run and longer circle than the norm.

I politely ask that you run with one of the family hashes like the Sunday group before posting any more negative comments about the hash in general. Like I said, you didn't go to a normal run and your description of a hash is completely inaccurate to what the norm is, the Sunday hash is a "family hash", meaning people bring their husbands, wives and kids. I think if you gave it another chance you might change your mind.

[HTWoodson]

And Wedders, I'm not unsympathetic to what you went through on that run. I've been hashing for almost 10 years, and that run and circle was too much for me too. The CMH3 has that annoying habit of demanding that everyone stands for the circle, no sitting, and standing for 3+ hours during the 777 run circle was seriously tiring and I was getting pissed off too. There were a number of people on that particular hash that were complaining that the circle went waaaay to long and a few drunks held everyone else hostage by not letting the damned circle end earlier. So I completely understand why you were upset.

[wedders]

Weeell ok, HTW. But the regulars sure as hel_l knew all the rituals, chants, songs etc, off by heart. You'll be telling me that members Butt Filler, Dyke Converter, Bus Bitch, Dog Sh*t, Anal Virgin etc, are all perfectly normal, sensible and mature people in the real world next, that on a 'normal' outing they don't sit on blocks of ice occasionally with trousers pulled down drinking beer out of bedpans or rubber dildos or some such object until they're legless, and in fact usually go to the nearest coffee shop for a cappucino after the run

Edited September 1, 2009 by wedders

[HTWoodson]

Weeell ok, HTW. But the regulars sure as hel_l knew all the rituals, chants, songs etc, off by heart. You'll be telling me that members Butt Filler, Dyke Converter, Bus Bitch, Dog Sh*t, Anal Virgin etc, are all perfectly normal, sensible and mature people in the real world next, that on a 'normal' outing they don't sit on blocks of ice occasionally with trousers pulled down drinking beer out of bedpans or rubber dildos or some such object until they're legless, and in fact usually go the the nearest coffee shop for a cappucino after the run

Finding a normal, sensible and mature expat living in Chiang Mai is a serious challenge, hash or no hash! But seriously, the Saturday and especially the Sunday hash is much shorter; the runs average about 45 minutes even if you walk a bit. And if the circle is not for you, you can leave after the run, as I do more times than not. As long as you pay your 100baht for the run, no one is going to give you grief. And if you want to stay, there still is a block of ice, but you'll spend much less time on it if at all, and they drink out of plastic cups instead of bed pans. And unlike the male hash, at the family hash you can drink anything you want. Water, soda, whatever.

Also, back to your OP, if you want to just do a little casual jogging, Mobs00 and I have been meeting up recently around Huay Tung Tao around 5 pm most weekdays for a casual jog. If you'd like to join up you're more than welcome, but we run pretty slow. Send me a PM and I'll give you my cell #.

Liam

[wedders]

Cheers Liam. Just trying to guess which of the aforementioned pseudonyms, and one or two others I remember, you go under in the hashing world. I do know that you are not 'BusBitch' ... presumably not 'Turkish' either

You're not that crazy Irishman, are you? Maybe 'Grease Gorilla'...

[HTWoodson]

Pic from your website:

Mahu. Red shorts in the front.

[SantiSuk]

I have run with hash clubs all over the world (including CM). I certainly recognise the pen picture painted (social misfits on a mutual support mission) and it applies to maybe 1 or 2% of hashers, who unfortunately dominate proceedings on a few hashes. But as someone else has said, don't assume all hashes and hashers are like that on the strength of one experience. Where a town has more than one hash it is usually because some breakaway hash has formed to counteract the very thing you complain of.

If you do get a few people together why not start your own hash with your own collectively liked format? There are no rules!

[diks]

I have run with hash clubs all over the world (including CM). I certainly recognise the pen picture painted (social misfits on a mutual support mission) and it applies to maybe 1 or 2% of hashers, who unfortunately dominate proceedings on a few hashes. But as someone else has said, don't assume all hashes and hashers are like that on the strength of one experience. Where a town has more than one hash it is usually because some breakaway hash has formed to counteract the very thing you complain of.

If you do get a few people together why not start your own hash with your own collectively liked format? There are no rules!

Well said: There are no rules.

However kennels come up with their own rules and thereby often missing the point - to be a social club for all, including misfits, without any hierarchy. The point is tolerance and acceptance and making it fun for everybody present. This includes the run, the circle, the food, if there is any, or the ononon etc. Typically a short circle is a good circle, long ones often simply degenerate into what was mentioned by wedders.

I also want to chime in with HTWoodson, some hashers leave before the circle starts - missing some of the socializing in doing so - as HTWoodson has done many a times.

[wedders]

Well said: There are no rules.

However kennels come up with their own rules and thereby often missing the point - to be a social club for all, including misfits, without any hierarchy. The point is tolerance and acceptance and making it fun for everybody present. This includes the run, the circle, the food, if there is any, or the ononon etc. Typically a short circle is a good circle, long ones often simply degenerate into what was mentioned by wedders.

I also want to chime in with HTWoodson, some hashers leave before the circle starts - missing some of the socializing in doing so - as HTWoodson has done many a times.

I might still be trying to find my way back... it would have been a long walk from the middle of the jungle somewhere around 40 minutes' drive from CM, especially with two broken feet, and I don't think my regular tuk-tuk driver would have been able to find me, somehow!

Thanks for the additional info anyway, I have a better picture of the different groups in CM. But we all have different ideas of what "socialising" involves, and these antics even in mild form are not my thing. Each to his own!

[john b good]

Well said: There are no rules.

However kennels come up with their own rules and thereby often missing the point - to be a social club for all, including misfits, without any hierarchy. The point is tolerance and acceptance and making it fun for everybody present. This includes the run, the circle, the food, if there is any, or the ononon etc. Typically a short circle is a good circle, long ones often simply degenerate into what was mentioned by wedders.

I also want to chime in with HTWoodson, some hashers leave before the circle starts - missing some of the socializing in doing so - as HTWoodson has done many a times.

I might still be trying to find my way back... it would have been a long walk from the middle of the jungle somewhere around 40 minutes' drive from CM, especially with two broken feet, and I don't think my regular tuk-tuk driver would have been able to find me, somehow!

Thanks for the additional info anyway, I have a better picture of the different groups in CM. But we all have different ideas of what "socialising" involves, and these antics even in mild form are not my thing. Each to his own!

"but we all have different ideas of what "socialising" involves, and these antics even in mild form are not my thing. Each to his own"

Agree entirely. Some years ago I was in the Hash Bar when this bunch of sweaty loonies arrive.

I thought that it was the cast from "one flew over the cuckoo's nest"

Edited September 2, 2009 by john b good