Run No.146 16th August 2020

Scribe: Whiplash + On The Side Date: 16th August 2020 Place: Higashi-Kanagawa Runners: 4 Weather: Sunny Distance: 10Km (Eagle)

The hares perspective:

This was the second time that Safety Last and Whiplash set a "corona-virus trail" after 4H decided to end the hashing break. With the protocols still well & truly in place (at least in this kennel) 4H hashes have been somewhat scaled back with special attention paid to finding less busy trails, no beloved finishing circle :((( and either a staggered start or no official start time for the trails set by SL & WL. In the case of the latter, hashers were given a time the trail will be laid by, and were free to show up anytime throughout the day to run it at their leisure while practicing social distancing if other hashers arrive at the same time.

This is why the Aug 16 hash unofficially started at 1:30 after the hares promised the trail would be laid by 1pm and that they would linger around for half an hour. This was enough to constitute a 'start time' for 3 intrepid hashers who bore the full sun, in the heat of the day on

what will probably be the hottest hashing day of 2020 for 4H! Apparently a couple of somewhat more sensible hashers showed up a few hours later, sparring themselves at least 2 degrees of temperature as the 'feels like factor' had dropped all the way to 42c by about 3pm... Thankfully the trail ran them right by a mister in a park at the T/E split.

The hares, living within close proximity to Yokohama station, sussed out new trails on virgin ground with the use of bay bike rentals which worked amazingly well except for the 'notoriously steep' Japanese staircases which they found themselves at the top or bottom of numerous times.

They have managed to avoid using Yokohama station and learned after starting at Kannai in July, to keep the hashers north of Yokohama station, which remains too busy for most people's comfort zone.

We are all looking forward to resuming our unique lifestyle hash when conditions improve and in the meantime, it's been great to enjoy the virtual ON! ON! in air-conditioned comfort, unless you're called Sweetie or Dragonfly who are trying to re-create an authentic summer-circle experience by contending with full heat AND overgrown Hayama mozzies to which we say, there is a cure for both!

Whiplash

Hi everyone,I ran the Hayama hash in the heat this weekend thanks to Safety last and Whiplash, who laid down a serious and full course hash taking me to an area of Kanagawa that I have never been to before, so it was a Sunday of new trails and new experiences.Firstly the weather was hot, the air temp was about 38 degrees Celsius and therefore for me I was grateful that due to Covid 19 this was a show and run trail where you can start from anytime after 1:30pm. I didn't meet the hares, until online at 6pm, nor did I meet the hounds so I showed up at 3:20 found the start point which was well marked and provided chalk for us to mark our way. Off I went solo on my first totally solo trail since hashing.I was anticipating a soft easy trail partly due to the heat and partly due to covid 19 sentiment, that I thought oh this will be a nice stroll. How wrong was I?Even though things started flat I was taken across double track train lines on to some residential straights and then things started to get into real hash territory as I ascended to my first CB but fortunately for me Pasconti and Che Che and Santa Maria had marked the trail so it was not long until I was back, ascending into an even more residential area on the edge of some forest up and down we went in true Hayama style then into a classic but somewhat depressing shotengai straight out of the 1980s bubble era and feeling the downturn as the city replaces shotengai`s for modern air conditioned shopping malls, I saw the sad, slow decline of what was once a happening district. Left and right the trail took me on some abrupt turns (fortunately very well marked) away from city life into a park on the edge of the shiggy, but due to my fatigue, and worried that I would be out for too long for the first time I opted for the safety of the Turkey split hopefully circumventing the shiggy only to be taken up a steep set of log lined steps across the patchy park to more green, then out of nowhere the trail takes me once again to the edge of civilization where my fellow hounds provided a range of chalkings that made no sense, Right to BT, straight on to ? left to ? with much confusion I cast my lot and luckily picked up the trail again but my pace was lacking due to the heat of the day. Staggering on I kept convincing myself "oh this will be over soon, I`m sure I`ll be back in 20 mins", but how wrong was I, the trail kept taking me to other districts, along roads I`d never seen before and across different levels of showa era development. At one point I was lost and off trail but I could see the train tracks thinking ok, I`m back there must be a station near here and there was, but it was nowhere near the start point so after observing the 1960s style classic car show room and bar, I contemplated a self created beer stop, but looped back round to find the true trail and I was off again.After another 30 mins of old man jogging, more like a brisk walk, I was back in and finished my run at 4:45, chalked that next to Che Che`s finish time and then I was out of there.Take homes from the Trail: No two trails are the same. The month before it was familiar ground and a leisurely run of almost 5km. This month it was more like 9km with shiggy style, sharp turns and unknown territory.Stay on the trail it will get you back faster than google I looked into the alternatives.Enjoy the trail and notice what`s going on around you, there`s alot to see but watch out for those sharp turns.Running as a group is fun, running solo can also be fun, you have to be more attentive to where you`re going and at times more cautious but that's the fun of hashing.You`re only as good as your next Hash, so don't judge the hash by the trail, judge the trail by your response to it and how it challenges you.

Rise up and meet the road before you and let`s get out there and run through the good times and the bad.Thank you hares for a long hot trail! On on!!

On The Side