a solid but mildly difficult 7k jungle run

It isn't often that I get excited about a run in Chiang Mai being exemplary because most of our runs are actually so good that none of them stand out for being even better. We are blessed with good surroundings in every direction so every trail has a chance to be a good one.

In this past week though, which was made by "Chicken Shopes and Sloppy Rod" was one for the ages and I absolutely loved it.

As you'll be able to see by the upcoming satellite image, most of this run was untouched jungle or farms and very little in the way of pavement or civilization. But but but! There was a parking lot at the start and finish of this so that makes it so much easier to organize.

This area is partially national park, partially the man-made lake because of a dam, and very little of it is cultivated farmland that you can see in the bottom left of the picture. I was a bit happier with the satellite imagery in this one because it shows mostly green.

Most of the run took place surrounded by trees and a few trails here and there that are maintained, i think, by the national park service. I'm just happy they didn't have a problem with us being here because sometimes they get a little too drunk with power and try to find some sort of problem with what we are doing "wrong." If we are approached by one of them we just tell them that we are there to pick up garbage in the jungle and normally they will feel a bit ashamed because that is actually their job. The whole notion of "saving face" that you might have heard about in most Asian cultures will normally convince them to be ok with us being there and to go away at that point.

But on this trip we didn't so much as see a park official and that is probably best.

We got lucky with the weather because it is always a risk once we get into September that the torrential rains of rainy/typhoon season could make any run, a very wet run.

Despite Chiang Mai being a hilly and mountainous area for the most part, most of this run was quite flat which is a good thing because while 7km might not sound like much to the more seasoned runners out there, it is a lot to us.

There was around 25 people participating this Saturday and that is a pretty good turnout considering the time of year. A lot of the expat population - which is most of our crew - stays away from Thailand during this time of year because rainy season is a very real thing.

But that has never stopped the Hash before and it isn't going to stop us now. We have NEVER cancelled an event because of rain and the only thing we do is try our best to secure an area that has some sort of shelter for us to hunker down in before and after the run. During the runs though, you are better off just accepting that you are going to get soaked.

We have 3 runs this week as well, one on Monday for men only, one on Thursday and Saturday for all. The bar has been set pretty high by this last one but we always try as best we can to one-up the person that did the run last week. If you are in the area and want to join us feel free! All are welcome and you can get the full details about how to participate at our barely functioning official website

On On!