Runners Group Hashes Out Area’s Good Life

Let’s think for a moment about some symbols of the Southern California good life. Well, there’s the sun, of course, and the surf. Then there is the action movie, the action movie star and the action movie star’s 30,000-square-foot house.

Fresh fruits and vegetables ought to show up on most people’s lists. And then comes a whole bunch of outdoor activities--hiking, biking, skating, skiing, boating, walking and running.

When you stop to think about it, we Southern Californians have a disproportionately long list of stuff we do to keep ourselves in shape.

And with the exception of advertising agencies--which are probably New York-based and paid to show us smoking while we ride our bikes and guzzling beer between water-skiing events--we normally think of these activities as part of a health regimen.

That is, unless we belong to the Hash House Harriers, a group that likes to run about as much as it likes to drink beer, which is to say a lot.

There are 1,100 Hash clubs worldwide, though only one chapter is in Ventura County. Recently, the local group took free-lance writer Ken McAlpine on a weekend jaunt. He survived to write about it for Ventura County Life.

“Actually, this wasn’t my first Hash run,” McAlpine said. “The first one was in Jakarta, Indonesia. My dad was in the Foreign Service and I was visiting on a summer break from college. The Hash took place in a rice paddy during a pouring rain. It was mostly Australians. After the run, we gathered in the dark, wet jungle, sang obscene songs and drank a lot of beer. It was great.”

Great--if you like running, beer drinking, intense humidity and partying hearty in a bog. Not my idea of a great time, but then the kind of running I like to do is around the women’s sportswear section during a red tag sale. Afterward, I knock back a cappuccino.

McAlpine has another view.

“I like the idea of the Hash,” he said. “Life is too short, and not enough time is spent having fun. The Hash combines the best of both worlds: You can have your suds and run them off too.”

There will be plenty of ways to have fun and get in a patriotic mood this long holiday weekend. If there is something you are longing to do, chances are it has been scheduled into this weekend’s roster of events.

Fourth of July festivities, including a pancake breakfast, concerts, parades, picnics, a tri-tip dinner, a cook-off, a train trip, an air show and several fireworks displays, will be going on around the county all weekend long.

For a complete list of Independence Day weekend events check our 11-Day Calendar, starting on Page 14.

And have a happy Fourth.