Hash House Harriers

Last night I was talked in to going out, and it ended up being a good time at a live music bar, but it was definitely harder to get up this morning to make my way across town to meet up with the 'hashers'.  I had heard of the Hash House Harriers in the past, and knew that they were some sort of running club with groups in most of the world's cities.  The Ankara branch meets on Sundays at 12:30 at Segmenler Park, which was a metro ride and long uphill walk from my house.  When I arrived, everyone was very welcoming.  It seemed to be mostly Turks, with a few Swiss and a few Americans.  Not knowing much about any of it, i just tagged along, and a bit past 1pm we were in the van and on our way out of town to our running place.  I have been here over a week and it was great to finally get out of the concrete jungle.  Soon after the city building stopped, we swung onto a dirt road, followed that for a bit and parked in a makeshift parking area.  We were surrounded by dry, rolling hills spotted with a few orchards and a few sheepdogs.  SInce i had no idea what the Hashers were all about, i was in for a surprise.  There were about 15 of us, and we first circled up to hear the instructions.  There were two 'hares', who had already set up a running course by throwing out handfuls of flour for the 'harriers' to follow.  There are several checkpoints, each with its own particular rules, as well as some false trails.  When we started, some people took off running, while others walked.  When a flour marking was spotted, someone called out 'on-on', and the rest of the group followed.  If a circle was found, that was a checkpoint.  If an 'F' was found, that was a false trail, and we had to return to the last checkpoint and look for a trail in a different direction.  Whether I walked or ran, it was a workout, especially with the many false trails.  At one point we circled up and sang a song, and at the end we had more ritual type stuff to do, mostly involving standing in the center of the circle and drinking due to being a newcomer (me), or due to breaking some 'rule', or really, due to anything that they wanted to have you drink for.  It was a good time, and a very eclectic and interesting group of people.  We stayed for a bit and some people had more beers and BBQd.  BBQing is a very common in Turkey.  People stop their car anywhere, or drive out into a place such as the one we were at, take out their version of a little smokey grill, and cook some meet.  

After a bit of time hanging out, i caught a ride back into the city with the other American girl.  It was a fun but long day, though i have a few more hours at the ice rink ahead of me before the day is over...