Oh God, I just found the Hash House website. I remember Hashing.

By their own admission, they're a "drinking club with a running problem." I grew up around that atmosphere. What a goddamn weird childhood I had. On the one hand was Dad--ranting about the God Damn Niggers and the God Damn Liberals and generally being a fountain of hatred for everybody outside his immediate family. And on the other were the Hashers--a bunch of weirdos in funny outfits getting together to run about five miles on Sundays, then stop and drink beer and eat chips and sing songs about fucking and beer and pot.

Our dog was the mascot for the local chapter a few years back. Big English bulldog named Tug. He loved running; everybody loved Tug, and they'd share beer and water and food with him in the circle at the end. Unfortunately, Tug died doing what he loved--during a Hash right after Hurricane Fran, he was bitten by a copperhead and died. Afterward, everyone was depressed. We took out permanent markers and drew a big "gravestone" for him on the table at the place where we went to eat afterward.

I liked Hashers. Wild, insane party animals. But very friendly.

That was about the only real exercise Dad got. He would only go because there was lots of free beer at the end of the trail. And everybody else on the street was busy on Sundays, so we'd go with him on the Hash. At first, my brother and I would go in the beer truck and hang around listening to music. But when we got a bit older, Josh would go running with everybody else, and I'd go with the two or three other walkers. I loved walking through the woods like that. It was awesome.

I just found the local-chapter website. I'd like to go again--perhaps the Sunday after the coming one. I wonder if I could hitch a ride there. I miss the party atmosphere. Maybe I could get Taylor to come along--that'd be pretty fun. :D (Also, I could wiggle out of the whole "virgin Hasher" thing--I HAVE been there before, several times, so technically, it wouldn't be my first time running with the rest of the group. I just don't wanna get beer poured over my head.)