Tomorrow I make my debut as the sole Hare responsible for setting this week’s trail with the Subic Bay Hash House Harriers (SBH3). It’s a huge responsibility and an even bigger pain in the ass. Here’s how my day of preparation has gone down (so far).

Up even earlier than normal so I could get on with the business of marking the trail while beating the worst of the heat. I arrived at Johansson’s (our starting point) at 0630 and got to work.

Now, obviously I’m not an experienced Hare but I had a decision to make. Some Hares prefer to mark the trail the day prior to the Hash. Others do it the morning of. The downside to the day before is that the powder can fade or even worse, wash away should there be rain overnight. Doing it the day of the Hash is a risk because it could be raining that morning or something else could go wrong causing a major fuck up. Anyway, I opted for today. Checking the weather forecast I see there is a possibility of isolated thunderstorms tomorrow. Hopefully all my hard work doesn’t go down the drain before we Hash. Nothing to be done about it I suppose. Well, if it rains this afternoon or tonight, I could go out in the morning and re-mark the trail. I’d rather not of course.

With powder and chalk in hand I commenced to walking the trail I had been piecing together these past few weeks.

So, as I may have previously mentioned, my trail has two medium length uphills and the climbs are not very steep. One significant downhill and then a relatively easy meandering path covering much of “My Bitch”. It does require walking through the yards of a couple squatter shanties. I always feel bad about creating a disturbance, dogs barking and the like. And knowing I’d be leading 30+ Hashers through their enclave is going to make a lousy day for them I suspect. Anyway, to assuage my guilt make up for their inconvenience I handed out tins of cookies as I passed through today. That seemed to be appreciated.

The trail continues on back into Alta Vista on our way “on-home” at Treasure Island in Baloy Beach. And since we are passing by my house I’ve incorporated a beer check into the hike. A stop off to refresh yourself and replace vital bodily liquids prior to hiking that last kilometer to T.I.

So the short trail is marked and ready. I still need to walk and mark the long trail (another 5K). I may go ahead and do that this afternoon so I can deal with any contingencies that may arise in the morning.

And oh yeah, because of my need to get out and get busy early this morning, Buddy and Lucky had to forego their walk.

Follow the yellow brick road
Follow the yellow brick road
Follow, follow, follow, follow
Follow the yellow brick road

Follow the rainbow over the stream
Follow the fellow who follows a dream
Follow, follow, follow, follow
Follow the yellow brick road