The circle is what the Hash is really about, not so much running

There have been a lot of people that I have spoken to that have the wrong impression about what the Hash House Harriers group is all about on a global level. When you tell people that there is running involved a lot of people get turned off by the idea of doing exercise. To those that think that is the case I got news for you: It really isn't about the exercise... it's about the social aspect of the entire process. In fact, if you don't want to run the entire trail or even walk it, you can walk or run some of it, or even not any of it at all.

We have a few members who are older that just turn up at the events to socialize and this is perfectly acceptable and welcomed provided we have enough space in the transport vehicles.

For most of us, the running side of things is fun, but anyone can just go outside and run any time that they feel like it. The major thing about the Hash House Harriers here in Chiang Mai as well as everywhere else around the world is the social aspect of it. Before I became a member of the CMH3 I really didn't know that many people unless they lived in my specific part of the city and also hung out at the same places that I did. I now know people that live in places all over the city and back when visiting Hash events were allowed, I met people from all over the world. I now know people in various countries all over the place and know that I am welcome to join their Hash events should I ever find myself in their part of the world.

With rare exceptions, it doesn't really matter where you Hash in the world there is likely going to be a circle at the end where all the members and guests talk to one another and basically roast one another in vicious, but ultimately intended to be "tough love" in nature. When we make fun of one another it isn't to genuinely hurt their feelings it is just to be silly, pretend that we aren't old, and to drink some beer. This is what Hashing is all about. The runs themselves are just so we don't feel like we are just a bunch of drunks, which let's be fair, we kind of are.

While I do enjoy the runs and all of us could use a bit of exercise in our lives especially when it means getting out of a gym or urban environment and becoming one with nature again. Our 3-times weekly runs normally have somewhere between 15-30 participants and we, for the most part, all get along pretty well. In that group, there are probably around 5 to 10 people that almost never do the entire trail. They just get out there and walk as much as they can, normally with someone else that also knows they are not going to finish the trail and then they turn back to camp.

For someone that otherwise would get zero exercise, getting just a few kilometers in is a much better alternative. You need to keep in mind that some of our members are in their 70's so the fact that they are even trying to exercise at all is impressive to me. I am in my 40's so I always finish the trail. I even finished a trail after a bad spill and twisted my ankle so badly that I thought I had broken it. I didn't break it, but it actually hurt a lot worse than the one time in my life where I did. That's a story for another day though and it was entirely my own fault for trying to be a hero on the trails.

So if you are staying away from the Hash House Harriers in Chiang Mai or elsewhere in the world because you don't think you will be able to keep up with the elite athletes of the HHH, rest easy. We don't have any of those in our midst. For the most part we are just a bunch of drunks that don't mind running a bit for a beer reward. On On!

We currently have meetups 3x weekly in Chiang Mai, Thailand and you are more than welcome to come and join us. Full details are available on our official website