Tania in China

Sun, Oct 15: Up the Mountain, Down the Mountain

This morning I have been invited to participate in the monthly Nanjing Hash House Harrier event. I had vaguely heard of the organization before - here is a brief description off of their website:

"Welcome to the home page for the world's most eccentric running club, the Hash House Harriers. With over 1700 groups in every major city in the world, it is now easier than ever for you to find fun, trail, and friendship where you live. The Hash House Harriers is a more social version of Hare and Hounds, where you join the pack of hounds (runners) to chase down the trail set by the hare or hares (other runners), then gather together for a bit of social activity known as the On In or Down Down with refreshment, humorous camaradery, song and sometimes a feast. "

It has been several months since I have run at all, so I was a bit worried whether I was in shape for this event - even with walking. I sent the question to the group secretary, and here is the response I received: "Usually the walkers take between 1 - 1.5 hours to complete the course. They do not walk fast. I think they do more talking than walking! It is a lot of fun!" That response makes it sound like it should be a fairly easy stroll, doesn't it? Boy, I was NOT ready for what they had in store!

We met up at another downtown Nanjing hotel, and boarded a very nice bus for our trip out into "the country". The entire group is made up of various Ex-Pats: Americans, Australians, Bulgarians, Canadians, South Africaners, and I am sure others. It is a friendly group, and there is much chatting going on during the trip. There is even a 4 year-old and a 6 month-old along - again, this lulls me into a false sense of security! The bus route takes us past the entrance to the Ming Tombs where we were yesterday, then down the other side of the mountain to the Nanjing National Park. Just to mention, I have spotted several McDonalds in Nanjing, but was suprised to see that there are far more KFC restaurants! I guess fried chicken is probably closer to traditional Chinese food than hamburger sandwiches...

So, we pull into a typical park parking lot, and the rules are explained. Two of the members had come out to the park the day before a laid a trail using flour - leaving a spot of flour on the trail every 100 meters or so. At a fork in the path they put a circle of flour, and that means you have a choice of paths to take. If you reach an "x" on a path, that means it is a dead-end and you have to turn around and take a different path at the last junction. Also, they said there will be a bit of "mountain goating" involved. Boy, was there ever!

So, at 10am we take off up a path, the runners in front of the walkers. Soon we are hiking up a 45 degree incline, and I am quickly falling to the back of the pack. We work as a group, and I am grateful for the moments of rest while other group members scout out various paths when we reach a "circle". About 10 minutes into the hike another group member is stopped by a foot cramp, so I hang back with him and the two "sweepers", who stay at the back of the group to make sure nobody is left behind. After a few minutes restbit we are off again, and now comes the "mountain goating!" First we haul ourselves up an extremely steep path for at least 150 meters (it felt like a mile!) - I am having to grab onto small trees and branches to haul myself up. The path is a small dry gully filled with loose rocks and leaves, so you really have to watch your step. We finally reach the top with my heart pounding out of my chest and lungs pumping as hard as they can, and I get a brief moment to catch my breath, then everything that goes up must come down! We are still not hugely behind the other walkers - you can hear them yelling out on the paths ahead as they find path markers. Down is really, really interesting since the world is still bobbing around me. This might not have been the best idea! The path is narrow, and you have to be very careful about your footing since the rocks are loose and the leaves can be slippery. It is mid 70s out, but I am sweating up a storm. After about 30 minutes from the start we reach and access road, and the going is a bit easier to the end. The rest of the group is now nowhere in site - it is just Mike the sweeper and me bringing up the rear. We have a nice talk about local history (well, Mike talks. I am doing more panting...), and get to explore a bit of the countryside. The groups in front of us have been nice enough to make an arrow out of twigs are each "circle" spot, so we don't have to figure out which is the right way. Suprisingly as we get to the final stretch, we run into a large group of walkers who, when confronted with a circle that gave a choice between heading uphill and heading downhill, headed uphill, so finally figured out they were going to wrong way and headed back! So, although I was slowest, I was not last!

We spent about 15 minutes resting, drinking water, and swapping stories as we make sure we have everybody. I am exhausted, my legs are like jelly, and my "bobbing" problem has gotten much worse. I guess all that exertion really exacerbates the problem. Finally at around 11:15 we all pile into the bus and head off to the 1912 area for lunch.

The group has rented the upper dining room of a restaurant, the Blue Marlin, for our post-run fest, and are supplied with soda, beer, and a lunch buffet. There is quite a long ceremony performed, including inducting new members (by having them introduce themselves, then chug a beer), recognition of anniversaries and other achievements (by chugging beers), penalizing anybody who broke any rules, like answering a cell phone on the run, or arriving late at the starting spot, and the penalty is, of course, having to chug a beer. I was recognized for "perserverance" by chugging a beer (are you beginning to see a pattern here?), and each time somebody drank it was accompanied by everybody seeing the "Hasher" song. I guess this group has been running together for at least 10 years, so there are quite a few traditions involved!
The food was good, and it was a really nice chance to meet some other Ex-Pats that you would not otherwise run into. By 1pm I am exhausted and feeling really smelly and dirty, so it is time to head back to the hotel.

After showering, I spend the next 3 hours laying on the bed like a lump - I am not used to this much exercise! I am actually glad when Harshad calls to say that he has other plans for dinner, so I pretend to be a lump for a bit longer, then head to the office to answer email, and sort out all my new pictures and update the blog. This thing has actually been taking me quite a bit of time! I now have my new harddrive, but Ben has offered me the use of his 40 gb external drive to transfer my files from my old disk to the new one. It will be nice to do all this blogging from right in my room! So, by 8pm it is time for some more lump-imitating, then off to sleep.

posted by Tania @ 11:04 AM