Category Archives: CH4 – Sunday

Despite all the hashing I’ve been involved with this was just about the first time I’ve run in about a month – I wasn’t sure how my body would react, but when I got started, it was clearly ready to run. Fantastic that the heat has dropped, the air is clean, and my legs have some stamina!

I got the first few checks right, after spotting some paper on the approach to the A-site (shelter on way to Tiger Head). We looped around the weir and back across the road. I finally got a circle wrong when I ran into a backcheck – clearly marked from the other direction. I was tempted to run through it, but played the game and went back, and after another loop I was back at the front chuckling to myself as I saw Cartoon headed towards the same backcheck. I jogged over to the square lake, and kept getting checks right as we headed towards the trail behind the ‘locked’ gate. I was ahead again there until Cartoon suddenly jumped out of the forest in front of me.

I figured Graven would stick with the lower trails as he is setting another run on Saturday from the Tiger’s Head, but nope – he took us up the hill. For once I enjoyed the climb, having got the check at the bottom, I slotted in behind the FRBs and trudged up with Shrek. What goes up must come down – woot woot! It was time to set off, and Emmaroyde was a demon on the descent! I was literally sprinting down the hill when he asked if he could pass! A slight muddle at the last check had me fighting off a pack of dogs before a long finale down the road.

Great, great run!

I like running the CH4 on a Friday! Maybe we should do it every week? For working folks like me, it would be a nice way to end the week – at least I don’t have to get up tomorrow! 😀

This was a one off, for good reason, and Jungle Chim’s words to close the circle were excellently timed and very fitting. On In DN!

Back to the run. I wasn’t feeling great after lunch – suffering with stress induced indigestion, that finally led me to get medical advice, and take some drugs. By the time I got to the runsite I was feeling much better. The run directions were along the lines of – it is a shelter in Saraphi that isn’t easy to find, but you should follow the river down, we’ll try and put some signs somewhere, but by the way, the bridge at Baan Tawai is broken. It was a miracle any of us found it!

The hare brief wasn’t brief. There was an ingenious twist, where the Wimp Rambo split would be at a circle check! Inspired! Not only that, the hares told the walkers that they would be able to see trail leading away from the circle if they wanted to do the Walk, otherwise we had to look for the Rambo. Funnily enough, by the time the walkers got to that circle, trail had been laid very clearly leading away from it (onto the Run), and nobody noticed another trail for the walk.

The trail was flat, weaving through some orchards, and apparently we went past a lot of bananas. In the circle the bananas were brought up several times. Perhaps it says something about my state of mind, but I didn’t see any bananas.

To Obkhan and the hex shelter, close to the end of the universe! By some miracle, I hit green lights at almost every junction and bringing Terror Byte along we were in good time for the run. A v. small turnout though, bolstered by a late appearing returning Anyone.

We set off into the garden centre, with Terrorbyte excited to be back on trail, leading the way for a short while. Soon enough Chuckie took over, and then I started stringing some checks together. Tasty was out on trail despite being the hare – sweeping is one thing, but overtaking front runners… hmmmz… Lucky she was there though as large parts of the trail had been taken down along one of the mainer trails, and I’m not sure we would have found it otherwise – we stood more chance of finding the way back instead.

I led the way as we climbed a little hill, and then broke off onto some great running trails back down the hill. The checks were where I was confident I was correct, and junctions that would have been doubtful were marked through. So things were going well until we once again ran out of paper, and Tasty was there to tell us there should have been a false trail ahead.

As we got close to home, CW and Cartoon were breathing down my neck – the last check I saw had CW follow me, so I checked determinedly until I found the out trail paper and headed back missing out on an extra km detour. A nice route on some trails that I haven’t been on for a while. Not keen on a hare being out on trail, but today it might have been a problem without it. When trail has been removed previously the pack has always found a way of solving it!

By Alice

Well ffs, it’s his area, his bloody shelter, so what did we expect? A Poo run or even worse a Horny Monkey FU?
No, it was HRA at his knavish, conniving best, mixing trickery with fuckery, added to a firm grasp of geography! Yep I enjoyed it, although my left knee and Achilles disagree.

The first section in the woods he’s used a year or two back and I didn’t know where we were going until we reached a red gravel steep decline where Angry Inch tried to top himself.
TmB and Byte were out ahead and checks were done when I arrived, having enjoyed ShSh’s ergonomic and economic comparison of Decathlon and Saloman footwear.

Frozen Dick also started at the back with us but he was tired after the gym so dropped back quickly.

I started to see and hear Pussy W, Krapthai and Pigshite up ahead but didn’t quite catch up until we’d wiggled down the hillside and across the narrow valley to the hillside on the other side where the hare led us on the raised path into the forest and steep down to the track again.
From about half way I could have got home in half the time but played the game and enjoyed the unpredictability of HRA’s twists, turns and jerks.
Along the valley I felt good and passing Pussy Whisperer called out “Let the runners run!”Knowing this was probably a prelude to a painful face plant or bamboo impalement, I wended my way carefully, allowing him to pass me somehow a few times further on as I checked wrong.
TmB found trail to the left through a property but the dogs and tiredness compelled me to jog around the loop and sure enough there she was 5 min later exiting onto my trail.
The next check at the V had her heading to GC Rd and I went left round the loop back towards the Doi. Could it be the sneaky cut thru aka HRA alley? Yes it was, but I stayed on paper to the FT and retraced my steps ripping down the strips and indicating the turn. Emma Royde caught up about here and my pants fell down, with bottle and cap inside my shorts. TmB turned around to see the re-arrangement dance and it wasn’t pretty.

Back towards the Doi and options for the hare. I chose Doi again – wrong – and TmB somehow found the next check before she found paper.
Emma went down, TmB went back left forest and Alice went overgrown field and Onon!
The next check was also a head scratcher and it was called back in the Doi. I shadowed at a lower level then rejoined after 300m.
The run in was welcomed but not the sight of PW ahead of me AGAIN! Loping, long legged sealhacker be damned!
Relaxed circle and lovely splashes from Laid Back and TmB.
Top set from HRA and enjoyable domestic with Cumalot over the missing haberdashery and other responsibilities etc.

By Alice
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The RA didn’t quite manage to do his duty with the weathergods and the hare thought a straw sunshade was a good enough rain shelter. Didn’t Cartoon ever hear what happened to the little piggies when the big bad wolf blew on the house of straw?
Well the little group of hashers were likewise compromised when the heavens opened and the circle was short and mostly sweet, apart from some new hasher singing a hash version of Livin’ on a Prayer for a down down song. Liked the chorus mind, just the preamble could be dropped next time.
So Cartoon likes SKP. He lives there and sets runs from his front garden so it was said.
Well he knew a pretty good route and we were the ones who were rooted. Small pack, easy enough checks and super well marked….. er, not quite.
TMB started off as the only runner but some of us jogged along in her wake catching up when the FT and circle checks got her. Which they did often.
ABB, Pussy Whisperer and self made the second string FRB team and even sometimes took the lead.
Paper was sometimes sparse in areas you needed to see more and I struggled a few times just following trail when on. Finding the 2nd paper after a check was harder than the first on occasion. Never mind, the rain made it cool, the “flat run with a view” promised a hill naturally and delivered. It was hard work puffing up and a check in a ravine had me bashing a gulley to the right while TMB and ABB went straight and found trail but I didn’t hear – and the circle was unbroken.
Catching TMB at the saddle, she was returning with strips from a FT, I found a small forest path but no go. As I turned I espied paper on the trees flanking the monks’ steps and yelled OnOn loudly at least thrice back up the steps. Skipping down with heavy waterlogged gators and worried about slipping, I got to the bottom and nailed the next check too. TMB didn’t hear and I wondered where she’d got to!
Down I came and although I lost paper a few times, I managed to re-join trail with some intelligent guesswork. My followers would have an equally hard time of it I surmised.
The canal reassured me I was close ish and a few paperless sections were minor worries as I jogged fairly strongly homewards. Suddenly a sodden chalk arrow soon I was looking at the big lake. No sign if I should go left or right so I retraced the out trail clockwise around the lake only to be asked by the hare if I’d done the walkers’ trail. Fcuker!
6.4km nice trail and then 20km home on the bike in the pissing rain.
Welcome back to CM ☔️

A run in Maerim? It’s been a while since we’ve been running there, so I was excited that my lab finished early enough that I could make it… Dashed out of the room to the car, only to find I had forgotten my shoes, so had to swing by the house on the way to the A. Fortunately I had enough time, even though the A was much further than expected… Tucked away in a spot I had never been to before.

We had visitors and virgins – nearly as many as regulars! After a brief chat and harebrief we were set off – while I’ve been trying to get into the habit of walking at the start, it was downhill so I tried to shake out my sore legs from yesterday’s exercise. At the bottom of the hill a circle – I looked left and saw a gate, so turned right and headed around the corner – I was on. And this process continued for some time – The pack of visitors were clearly faster than me, but they spent their time holding hands, cuddling etc. at the checks, so I was staying ahead and just kept guessing right. Poor Cartoon behind me was left with 2nd or 3rd choice each time.

Finally after 4km, the visitor couple caught me up, overtook and had first choice at the check. It was so sweet as they didn’t want to leave each other, but were forced to check different trails. Ever the gentleman, when he found the trail he waited for others to catch up before running off. By this point, I was happy walking in the pleasant countryside – and was quite content when I saw the cars before I got to the 7km promised by the hare! Good run all on trails that were new to me!

SS likes going off on long runs, so expectations were high that we would have long one, with plenty of good runnable trails! It’s been a while since I’ve been out at the quarries on the left of Sameong road, and some things have changed a little. We set off the wrong way around the small lake by the temple – it maybe added an extra 100m or so, and meant we had to go through the long grass. Then a circle check by the temple.

I headed straight on and around to the right towards the other exit of the temple, and sure enough, eventually I saw paper. At the exit there was a V check, and this time I got it wrong, so was behind much of the pack as we went down into the quarry – once upon a time the trail was quite wide, now it was a narrow balance beam with a death defying drop off either side – I didn’t enjoy it much, and ended up inching my way along on my ass.

After climbing up the other side, I caught up when the FRBs came back from a false trail. We were now limited as to where the trail might go, and another circle had me checking maybe 140m before I found the paper. We headed through a gate at a clutch point – I wondered how we would get back, and as CW caught up we chatted about why there was no check. We continued with no checks – no wonder the hare had plenty left over for the hare brief.

Trail seemed to stop, and then continued up a steep climb, looping around in a circle. Then a sign saying go back following pink paper. We ignored it, and followed CW & Piggy ass they called “ON Rambo”, taking us back along the trail we’d already been on. Finally we went back and followed the pink paper back to the A – almost 4km in length – wow! Rainy season – could probably have done with a shelter!

4th of July – apparently a significant date for some Americans. Fireworks? Hotdogs? Fair enough! The highlight for me was having Does Nothing come out for a beer – he does stick very well to his name, but I did enjoy his splash of Sex Pistol! Lets hope he comes out again soon – it really wasn’t any trouble with Purple Fart ably assisting.

We rolled up to FD’s back terrace, and there was a big crowd. Gorf & Scooby in town for next week’s Lanna was a little scary given my level of fitness (or lack of). I walked up to the first check with CW, and I went left while he went right. After 60m there was the OnIn! 😀 I was seriously tempted to call it a day! Someone insisted it was old, and we should check past it – why bother? But I dillied around for a bit, and was way back when it was called back in the opposite direction. With the FRBs in action up ahead, and a few checks that were just straight on, along narrow trails that were hard to run, or pass anyone, it took a long time for me to make any progress. Finally I heard people checking ahead, and then finally got to a check that nobody had picked yet.

I remembered this check from a week or so back, and it is a good one. As soon as I got there, and given that it hadn’t been solved yet, I made an about turn and headed up the least obvious hill, where there is a trail but it is impossible to see. Meanwhile everyone else had fanned out the other side of a barbed wire fence, looking up at me with bemused expressions as they tried to figure out how to get back to me!

I carried on up the hill and then got into a bit of a jog, knowing I would nail the next few checks. A “V” check, and this had to be left – Right would take you back around the hill towards where they had been checking before. The next one would be right, left is too soon, and FD likes this ridge trail – he’s used it for the CH3, the Bunnies and again for CH4. I just had to keep my eye out for the cut back down to the left as there was certainly an FT up ahead. CW started catching up and distracted my attention. Damnit – the FT. Even though I was exactly right with where to look for trail, it took me a while as he’d found a slightly different connect than he used last week. I found it after 80m or so, and the pack howled like Red Indians as they chased me down the hill.

Gorf caught me and must have been frustrated on the narrow trail for a while before he managed to find a way to skip past. Scooby and CW past soon after. I was moving faster than I wanted to, but kept my eyes looking to the left to try and spot where we would cut back over the hill. Sure enough Gorf came running back from a False Trail, but by now I realised I was overheating and needed to slow down. I found my own way back from here.

Balls! When 2 balls get together, what can you expect? Back out to the lake at San Kampaeng, and we were promised in the harebrief that we wouldn’t accidentally get onto Mondays paper – but who knows about any other run?! From the way Snowballs fell out the songthaew, I wondered how long he’d been drinking… – was it before they laid trail?

We set off in the direction we were pointed, but even though we were going around the lake in the usual way, it took us a while to find the first paper. Not the best of starts! The first circle was by a few cows. I’ve put checks here before, so know exactly where the 100m point is – CW was some way past it before he called us on. I was jogging gently, as it was me, CW & Blows Herself with a bit of an advantage as we went along the canal. We could have done with some more paper, as it was alternating calls of “ONON” and “Looking”.

CW suggested we stuck together as a 3some, as it looked like it wouldn’t be easy… Moments later we were split apart and all came in separately from different directions! I found a couple of checks a bit confusing – even though we were right, I wasn’t convinced it was right, and ended up exploring a little and then on some other paper, that I think was from Cartoon… After looping around I was back at the canal, and tempted to head home. I was 45 minutes in, but with plenty of daylight, I changed my mind and went back to where things had got confusing, and braved my way up the steep climb. Each time I got to paper, I had to pause and try to pick out another piece – tricky when I was off trail, and the route seemed to sharply turn from left to right and back again. Finally at the top of the hill, I assume there had been a check there, as there was paper strewn on the ground leading into the middle of an overgrown ‘field’. It took a while, but I did manage to get back on paper, and there was Tiptoe & Ball Breaker.

I was back on familiar ground now, headed back towards the lake, but again I got off paper. This time I gave up and carried on on my own – ending up the wrong side of the lake and coming in the wrong way. Most of the pack were there to quiz me on what had gone wrong. I had barely finished the story when Chuckie came in – also from the wrong direction, also solo…

“A bit confusing”, was an understatement!