Yesterday’s Hash went fine. The Hares laid a mostly paved trail that would be appropriate in the event of rain. It wound up not raining during the Hash hours, so that effort was for naught. The trail itself was very familiar to me–most of it is part of my standard Sunday walk. I thought it was kind of funny that I hadn’t made that walk on Sunday because I needed to hike to the ATM in Subic, but here I was, making up for it on Monday’s Hash.

My only real complaint about the trail was that the Hares had included five checkpoints on the relatively short 5K hike. I dislike checkpoints during the best of circumstances, but these seemed especially unnecessary and pointless. For those who don’t know, a checkpoint on the trail requires that you explore in all possible directions for the “true trail.”

So, basically, you’ll be marching along, and then you see the dreaded checkpoint symbol. In order to find the proper trail, you need to go fifty yards or so in all possible directions until you find chalk or powder indicating you are On-On. This can be frustrating and, to me, just creates unnecessary confusion. Yesterday, I guessed right on four of the five checkpoints, so didn’t have to backtrack. And the one I guessed wrong, I just proceeded on my own path until I worked my way back to the actual trail. So, no big deal, but as I said, it just makes things more difficult and confusing. The original purpose of a checkpoint was to keep the pack together by slowing down the runners. For that to work, though, the first runner who finds the true trail is supposed to go back to the checkpoint and indicate the proper path for those that follow. That never happens at our Hash. Okay, rant over.

Our On-Home was at a place called Yeros, and it was only our second time visiting this venue. It’s got nice covered outdoor seating and plenty of room for our Hash circle. They have a pretty extensive menu, and despite the crowd (there were over forty of us), they provided good service. The food was just average tasting, but the prices were good. I had two smallish chicken shwarmas for only 120 pesos (less than $3.). The beer was cold and plentiful, and this week (I only drink beer on Hash night), it tasted much better than last time. I’ll be glad to reach my target weight and switch back to beer full-time. I’m making slow progress, though, because the gin reduces my resistance to my sweet tooth. Ah, well, first-world problems and all that.

Here are some photos from our trek:

After the Hash, I walked up the highway for some more beers at the Snatchbar (technically, Snackbar, but when the (female) owner refers to it as Snatchbar, I guess I can too.) I’m going to start calling Kamto (same owner) Cameltoe from now on, too.

I made it an early night, home before eight, but then again, my first beer was at an earlier than normal 4 p.m. It’s all about pacing yourself and knowing when to say when. I’m a drinker but not a drunk, and I intend to keep it that way.