On! On! Hash House Harriers Xi'an

Last Saturday was the "Annual St. Patrick's Day HASH RUN!" (Xi'an Kennel)  Now this was the first time I have ever been to a Hash run.  They had the Hash in Riyadh, but it generally coincided with Riyadh Road Runners and I just loved that group! Miss them!  We kept meaning to make it out to the Hash, but when it's 40 degrees C out (104 F) it was easy to come up with an excuse not to go.  In 2.5 years in Riyadh, we never made it once.

In Xi'an, the only running group I have been able to locate thus far is the Hash so the Hash it is!  They seem to meet once a month so we made plans to go.  The night before we were invited to a wedding celebration dinner for one of Matt's coworkers.  It was at a restaurant around the corner from the hotel.  There were about 20 different dishes served.  They put them all on a giant "Lazy Susan," and as the dishes went by, you could take what you wanted.

I tried pretty much everything.  The Beijing Duck was the specialty and it was delicious.  Several of the dishes were very spicy even if they didn't necessarily look spicy.  Also, there were about 4 dishes that I have no idea what they were. I liked them, but honestly I couldn't tell you what they were.  And, there was a lot of wine.  A lot of toasts, and a lot of refilling of the glasses.  It was lots of fun, but I definitely drank more than I normally would, especially considering I was planning on running the next day.

When I woke up the next morning, I didn't feel "great."  Between the wine and the spicy food, I felt a bit off but certainly not bad enough to blow off the first chance of a group run.  Luckily the run wasn't until 3:30.  We got up and finally got moving around 11:00.

By 2:20 we had eaten and were dressed to go running.  The group was supposed to meet at the park next to the drum tower inside the Walled City in Xi'an.  To get there, we would need to take a taxi.  Apparently there is a shift change that takes place at 3:00 so it was next to impossible to get a taxi because even if you find one, they don't want to take you downtown.  (It is a bit of a pain with the traffic, especially on the weekend.) Eventually we got a driver to stop and before he managed to drive off, we offered to pay double to get him to take us... and he did.  We arrived at the Drum Tower at about 3:25.

The Drum Tower

(I don't know who that guy is, but he kept taking pictures of all the foreigners.) 

Quite a few people showed up and they were all gathered around dressed in green waiting to start the run/walk.  Since we were "Hash Virgins," they gave us a quick explanation of the rules and said, "If you get lost, keep the sun on your right and head that way.  Last stop is the Mexican Bar."  Having no idea where we were, and since I didn't have my phone on me, we decided to just not get lost.

So here is the start.  The two guys in blue are the "hares," and they run ahead and mark the trail with flour. (That is what is in the bags.) The rest of us give them about a 5 minute head start and then we try and catch them.  The walkers, stayed with the beer cart.  (I'm pretty sure they didn't have one of those in Riyadh ;)

I was really glad they were wearing the big green hats because it made it much easier to keep track of them while we were running.  Eventually they shouted "On on!" and away we went running down the city streets.  Sorry if the pictures are blurry, but like I said, we were running so I did my best!

It was so silly.  There were signs that they had left and we were looking for flour in the streets to find the hares.  We were purposely sent down wrong streets and had to turn around to find the correct trail.  A lot of the people on the street were actually very helpful pointing out which way the others had gone.  When we looked to be going the wrong way people would start pointing and waving us in another direction.  It was so much fun.  Also it was a pretty easy pace, and if someone fell behind, we usually had to backtrack so they were able to catch up again.  

We ran for about 2 miles and eventually found and then passed the walkers (different route), and then we found the hares as well as the beer cart.  This was apparently the halfway point where we waited for the walkers to catch up.  

 Lots of beer as well as potato chips and water.

 Normally it would never occur to me to have a beer in the middle of a run,

 but there is always a first time!

Eventually the walkers caught up and we all hung out chatting, drinking beer, and eating potato chips for about a half an hour or so until they said that it was time to do the second half of the run.  This time they just said to stick close and if we get lost meet them at the Mexican Bar.  Again, having no clue where this was... I made it a point not to get lost.

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So off we went chasing the hares! Good thing that they left a trail because eventually they managed to lose us. At some point we left the walled city because here is the wall from the outside.

There is also a moat, but since I was trying to keep up it's not in the picture.  The second half was a touch more difficult since the muscles had stiffened up and it's not a huge surprise that beer does not help one to run more efficiently.  

 We ran through a park where lots of people were flying kites and more helpful people pointed us in the right direction when we all stood around trying to figure out where to go.

 I'm not sure what this building is but it looked pretty so I took a picture of it.  

 Eventually we ended up at the Mexican Bar which is apparently the only Mexican food place in all of Xi'an.  They greeted us with tequila shooters.  Not the most refreshing drink after a run, but surprisingly smooth. We waited around here for quite some time waiting for the walkers with the beer cart but they couldn't get the beer cart to the restaurant because there were too many stairs.  So considering that they had all of the beer and certainly had no need for us... we went to find them.

Here is the moat that goes around the walled city.  Very pretty.

Now earlier in the day, people were telling us that the hash usually goes until 9:30 and I said that there was no way that I was going to be there until 9:30 if we started at 3:30. At this point, I think it may have been around 5:30.

The beer cart turned out to be just around the corner at the bottom of some steps.

We joined them and then once again started drinking beer.  The group was very nice and everyone was having a good time.  A newly married couple were nearby taking pictures and I'm not quite sure how this happened... but it certainly makes for an interesting wedding photo.

This was followed up by more chatting and then a "circle" where "Hash business" was discussed.  This included naming one guy, renaming another girl, and something called "down downs," which are apparently an infraction committed on the run.  The punishments, however, all had to do with drinking beer.

Eventually, it got dark and we got hungry and so we all ended up back at the Mexican Bar for tacos, more beer and more tequila.

In fact, we had such a good time, that when we finally got into a cab to go home it was 11:00.  I guess I wasn't wrong when I said that there was no way I was going home at 9:30! On On!!