Last night was the 1200th running of the Saipan Hash House Harriers. Suka didn't run it because it started earlier than usual, and work wouldn't let her off early at all.

The trail may well have been the hardest Hash trail I've run yet. The only competition for it is the one that Dave helped to set back in August. There were over 60 people there, and even more came to join the festivities at the end.

The end was in a little pocket beach (I put the map pin right on it). Imagine a secluded beach surrounded by cliffs with the ocean wave crashing at the mouth of the inlet under a half moon. In addition to the usual camp fire, people brought naval flares and fireworks which were launched off on a regular basis. Somebody kept throwing handfuls of firecrackers into the fire, too.

After a little bit of confusion over the directions, Suka joined us at the end, also. We didn't stay for a long time, though. I was completely exhausted from the hike and a little overwhelmed by the size of the group and the lack of re-energizing non-alcoholic consumables. There was soda and water, but all of the Gatorade was gone by the time I got in. There were some chip-like food snacks, but the real food was waiting someplace else for us.

This morning my body aches everywhere. In addition to the long trail, I was stung by a bee ("boonie bees" as they're called here by the Hashers), had rocks fall on my elbow and knee, and had a tree branch fall on my head. Fortunately for the latter, the only reason it fell was because it was incredibly rotted, so it just sort of pulverized as it passed my thick skull. We had triggered a cascade of falling branches when a group of us passed a point slightly off-trail.