Welcome to "Hashing"

Have any of you ever heard of "hashing," officially known as Hash House Harriers?

It is hilarious and Michael and I just recently discovered it last weekend. Let me paint you a picture...

Michael and I are walking in the neighborhood when we run into our sweet neighbor Amanda. She is the most plugged in woman in Washington. Check out her blog, Metrocurean, to bask in her awesomeness, http://amandamc.blogspot.com/. As we are talking Amanda eagle-eyes a little pile of hot pink chalk dust. "I wonder if people are hashing today?" she says. To which we answer, "*blank stares*"

Within a minute we saw four groups of people follow the same trail of the chalk down the alley. What secret world is this that we have been exposed to now??

Here you go, Hashing 101:

Here is how it works. There is a "hare" or in some cases "hares." They take off running while leaving a trail of colored dust behind them, either in piles or drawn arrows. After a brief head-start the "hashers" are released.

They follow the trail of markers in an attempt to catch the hare. After the race, they drink!

Apparently there are 1,898 hash groups in 1,231 cities, in 183 countries. Seriously. After reading the "Hash Bible" I learned that British started the sport in 1938 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Check them out, maybe you can join a group near you.

Keep your eyes peeled in your neighborhood because if you're not paying close attention you could miss the glorious display of random runners.

Images and hash facts courtesy of http://www.gthhh.com/.