Hashing

No, not that kind... The running kind. I've been to three of these so far and I just love it. All three have taken me to places I never would have known were there. How we can start in an urban area and end up in dirt and mud where no cars can be seen just blows my mind. I had no idea all these places even existed let alone so close to the boring roads I've been running.

The last one was in Makiki, starting at Roosevelt High School. We ran around the edge of the school, turned into the campus for about 30 yards, and went through a gate in the fence. From there it was trail until we hit a road where the arrows pointed us up a HUGE hill. The entire group was reduced to sporadic walking from the steepness of the hill. Have I ever mentioned how much I hate hills? Flat land is only disliked, and I'm actually rather fond of downhills, but uphills? Not so much.

After an eternity, we reached the top and it was back to trails. This really degraded into hiking rather than running. The trail was rough and there was a lot of climbing up big stones and over fallen branches. I really pushed myself to stay with the group because I don't know if I would have gotten out otherwise. Eventually, after the group scattered to hunt for signs and calls of "Are you?" from all directions, we found our way out and back to the roads just before the sun really started to set.

From here on out is was all downhill to the finish, hooray! Again, another amazing experience I'm happy to have had. Still, I think I better start bringing a flashlight.