A running mate is a husband who dared to talk back.

I figured I might as well make sure I avoided getting scurvy while on the hiking trails, so before heading over to the trails, I met one of the other hashers that I met on the RDR at a local strawberry field to pick a pint or two of luxury. Nothing can be nearly as good as eating fruit that is fresh off the vine or tree. Since I was in the area and heard so much about the great San Diego hashes from others, I decided to check out some of the other local kennels (local hash groups). Fortunately, two of the hashes meet at the same place on Sunday. The first trail was a great run down one of the sea cliffs that had me stopped in my tracks when I saw the sheer size of them. We ran along the beach as I had my neck constantly turned up as a I gawked at the 300+ foot walls towering overhead. I wish I took my camera so I could have gotten some shots, but after hearing stories of some insane terrain through which the pack is made to run or even sometimes swim, I decided it would behoove me to leave it in the car. I will, however, gladly swipe some of the other pics that were posted on beercheck.com. The trail went along the beach for a while, including a nude section, before heading back up the cliff near the paragliding launch point at Torey Pines (I'd been watching them flying around while running along the beach). The afternoon hash, Humping Hash of San Diego, was one of the best runs I have ever had. This is what a hash group should be like! Their trails are all live, no wussy dead/pre-laid trails, and always filled with plenty of off-road (shiggy) stuff. It was a tough 4+ miles trail (especially after doing the 2-3 miles trail in the morning) over plenty of hills, shrubs, creeks, and even along an interstate bridge under construction. At the end not only was there plenty of beer and other drinks, but also a huge food table of sandwiches, candies/cookies, and vegetable trays. Apparently this is the norm for them! If I ever become homeless, I'll move over there and just find out where the end will be and pay the $5 to get all the beer and food you want! There was a naming that day with the young gentleman, after being grilled with a serious of questions, finally being dubbed 'Sucking Seabuscuit' since he was a regular rider. A couple of my Tampa friends such as MS and Stroke had been hashing with this group plenty of times in the past, so I got to meet several of the people that I had heard them mention. Stroke is going through some medical difficulties as he is fighting some cancer, so I called him intending to pass around the phone for some well wishing, but all I got was voicemail. :(

After the trails were complete, and Captain Jerk graciously brought by the stuff I had shipped to him since it couldnÂ’t fly on the plane (like the fuel canister), I headed to Skanky'’s place for a final night of rest in a bed. When I got there he was about to crash for the evening but as we were talking, his other roommate came in and said one of their friends was going to be playing nearby. So within about 5 minutes, we were on bicycles heading towards the bar. Skanky knows pretty much every bartender in the area, so we had no problem either getting in or getting really, really cheap drinks. I really loved hanging out with him and just talking to the bar patrons. Tampa seems to lack places like this with the Ybor area being way too loud and the Hyde Park area being too crowded. We hit a couple of spots and ended up staying out into some wee hours. So much for crashing early!! It was a total blast with even an entertaining, if not challenging bike ride back to the house. Did I mention that there were a lot of really, really cheap drinks? Though only having been here for 4 days and I've already met so many great people and had more fun than had in months. Only 2.5 weeks to go!