Hares: Back Seat Box and Minnie Brew

Start: Rockefeller Center, Manhattan

On-In: Ryan’s Bar & Grill, Vernon & Jackson Blvd., Queens! Yes, Queens!

Scribe: M.C. Chris Troise

The Full Moon Hash was proud to host the 2^nd 1998 Live Hare trail, this one starting from Rockefeller Center. Rock Center is a good place to meet for a hash but they can be a little strict - Vince, Mike and I were sternly told by a security guard that we were not allowed to sit on the ground! OK, we were on the ground doing stretches, and as long time runners the aches and pains we needed to sooth were so deeply embedded in our joints and muscles that the stretches might have been odd: Mike and I were both doing fantastic contortions of our hips and groins while Vince was flat on his back thrusting his dick into the air (I think he was trying to fix a repetitive stress injury).

Live Hares. I like anything that is part of the hash oeuvre, so live hares are cool in my book, but after Sucks After Dark’s trail a few weeks ago we were all nervous how this one was going to turn out. Was Brent going to set down a well laid trail loaded with marks and good checks? If caught would he good naturedly chuckle and give the apprehender a nice pat on the back and a "job well done"? Or was he going to be so whacked out on "hash testosterone" that he would rather die than be caught, which would mean one mark every ¼ mile as he set the land speed record for sprinting 15 miles?

On-On! Off we went making a left then making a right and then hitting a check on 6^th Ave. In hindsight the check itself wound up not being that difficult but since Rock Center is always so packed with tourists it was hard to navigate through them and so the check took a while. A bunch of us were standing on the west side of the Ave when we noticed Bill running north along the East side. Nobody bothered to say "Hey Bill, over here!" since we were only one minute into the run and we figured he would notice us eventually. But Bill thought we were out for ten minutes and had found the first check and didn’t mark it, so he was working up quite a head of steam when we finally met up. "Goddamit why don’t people mark checks I’m running around the f* block ten times now and ….".

The first check headed west and then north into Central Park. For the second Full Moon in a row I got myself completely lost and I eventually wound entering a pitch dark Central Park by myself and was forced to stumble from tree to tree like Mr. Magoo looking for flour. After hunting around for ½ an hour I eventually found trail and headed out of the park and down to 59^th and 2^nd where I found Janet and Alice. Alice was walking the trail and Janet had gone back to the start to find the On-In location. We ran/walked across the bridge and then on the Queens side looped down and underneath the overpass and passed a cool "Teminator" looking machine tool factory. It took us a while to get to the On-In as almost every corner was an artificial check for us since we had no other runners up ahead of us to show the way.

So the verdict: the live trail run was challenging, but certainly do-able. There were a good amount of flour marks and a good amount of pack marks but you should certainly make sure you run with other people and don’t let yourself get left behind.

Janet and I were the last runners to get to the On-In where we found that $10 bought you all you can eat dinner and what wound up being hours worth of drinking. And good beer too! Its crazy how you get used to Manhattan prices (or Douglaston prices!) and then you go to a place in Queens and remember what normal prices are like. Although there were diners and bar patrons there nobody got annoyed at us doing down-downs and being loud and smelly.

For a Queens On-In, there were a good number of civilians including a returned Mike Murphy who was just in Kerry, er, I mean Mike – who was just in – and Kerry, Mary the Greek, Ewa, John O’Connor and Aleks. Plus Mike, a guy I never met before but he said he’s been around.

The hash cash lasted a long time and the bar loved us so much that even when it ended they extended the happy hour prices for us! Plus when we left the owner invited us back and shook hands with us. How do you like that?