Cairo Hash: Running through the desert.

Life is all about trying new things, you know. So I decided to try this hashing in the desert thing.  What's hashing? Well, it's not drugs but this:

Variously described as "the lunatic fringe of running" and "the drinking club with a running problem," the Hash House Harriers are a worldwide loosely organized collection of individual clubs. The Cairo Hash kennel welcomes all people - and well behaved pets - of any age, class, size, shape, sex, religion, philosophy (or not), and running or walking ability (or not).

Our premise is simple, a couple of  harriers (the Hares) lay a trail of flour, lentils or paper over a course (the Trail) they choose. The other harriers (thehounds) try to find and follow the trail. It stops a few times in the next 45 to 75 minutes at regroup stops (the Checkpoints) to allow back markers to catch up. And finally returns to the starting point.

There is a a parallel trail just for walkers.

Check out their website here:http://www.cairohash.com/about-the-hash-p5.html

Kinda stupid that I decided to run in the desert on the first day that I decided to try fasting for Ramadan. But I survived.

I went with a couple of new friends, Susana who is from Spain and Mark from Canada.  We decided to walk since it was first time. It was a wonderful experience, this running in the desert thing. I've always thought of myself us a beach person but I realize that I love the desert just as much. It is amazing how quiet and beautiful it could be.  I might just do this again before I leave in 2 weeks. 

Here's what happened:

This is the starting to point. I love the rock formations.

Mark and Susana!

Susana brought cookies. 

Here are the participants. The ones in yellow are sort of the leaders we follow through the desert.

There was a bunch of expats from different countries such as Switzerland, Germany and France.

Immediately we started climbing up the side of this hill.

Look at this view! Yes, I was taking pictures while walking.  How can you not stop to admire this view!

For walkers, we followed the orange lentils.

Those are the runners.

And here are the walkers.

Hola Susana!

Lovely.

Walking, walking, walking

MArk doing a superman pose.

I might do the running, but we'll see.

Here's the check point where we make sure that no one's left behind.

Some more walking.

There was a point where my fear of heights kicked in and I was holding on to dear life on some rocks. 

The best thing about the hash is that I made some new friends:)

More pictures to come.