Hot, sunny

Neither one of us feeling particularly good this morning I gotta tell ya.

Musta been the bad water.

We do our best to feel normal and get rehydrated as we’re planning on doing the Grenada Hash today. Its a weekly event – the locals organize a run/walk somewhere on the island every Saturday. I’d heard about it and always wanted to go but never had a way to get to where they happen. Well we heard on the Cruisers Net that you call Abby and he will take you. So we’ve arranged to be picked up at Island View (by Treasure Trove) at 1:40 pm. Hope we feel better by then.

Abby is on time to the minute and we ride in his van (it’s a bus on regular days) with John, John, Tim and Chris – all sailors staying in Prickly Bay. The run is in Grenville which is almost an hour away. We have no idea what to expect but turns out we’re about an hour early. So we stand around in the absolutely blaring disco music and chat with people. There’s a couple faces we know including James from Horizon so we’re meeting people. We buy a couple singlet shirts and sign is as “Virgins”. There are runners, walkers and virgins. We’re told virgins get a free beer at the end. Cool.

Finally we start off, I’m running, Christy is walking. They said the Grenville route is relatively flat but that was a blatant lie. One veteran of 200 hashes told me later it was one of the toughest routes he could remember. It starts out nice and then goes up, and up and up and up and up. Down a bit every now and then but then up and up and up. I’m with a group probably within 10 or 15 of the front and enjoying it but working hard. I didn’t bring my phone to take pics which was a mistake.

I come around the crest of the route and I’m at a Y intersection. Can’t see anybody tho they were just in front of me a few yards. Did they go left or right? Left looks like a private driveway so they must have gone right so that’s the way I go. It’s a steep downhill and pretty long and now I know I took the wrong turn. The route is marked with little piles of shredded paper and there is no more shredded paper. But I’m not going back up that hill. This road will turn left and go back down to the beach soon. Right?

Wrong.

It stays up on the ridge and keeps going further away from my destination. I know this but there is no turning back now, it HAS to go left (towards the sea) and downhill soon. I’m running the flats and the downhills but slowing down, it’s hotter than a pepper sprout and I know I’m actually going AWAY from the endpoint. A woman pulls up beside me and asks where the Hash is supposed to be taking me. We laugh when I tell her I’m hopelessly lost but I’m going to Soubies. She says take the next left, it will take you down. Thank god.

From where it turns left I can finally see the ocean and how high I am. I have a loooong way to go – at least 4 km and I’ve already done 2 or 3 off course. Thankfully, it is mostly downhill – not all downhill, but mostly. (I learn later there was a shortcut but I didn’t know it up there.) Finally I’m on the beach road, turn the corner and there’s the finish. Sprint to the end for heroics.

I’m soaked from head to toe. Tell James I got lost and he laughs. Cool off, change my shirt and have a beer. Go to the rooftop to wait for Christy. It’s a nice view up there, bit of a breeze and some respite from the 5 million decibel disco music.

This is turning into a long affair actually. I’m kinda hoping Abby comes back soon and we can go home. Our other van riders say let’s get something to eat and keep our eyes open for Abby.

But then the Hash Master gets on the microphone and asks all Virgins to come to the front. So we all do (there’s about 7 of us). There’s a little ceremony and a certificate and then he says “at the beginning we promised you a free beer, so here you go”. All the other, non-virgin hashers take the beers they have been holding, shake them vigorously and completely douse us in beer. It’s pretty hilarious.

Well it could be worse. Don’t tell them it’s your birthday.

We grab chicken dinner for EC$15 each, great deal tho messy. Finally Abby is here and we take the long hour ride back to Woburn Bay.

We’ll do that again sometime, hopefully won’t have to make it a 6 hour affair.