Run: 1959, 28 December 2020
Location:- Wat Bang Phung, Ratburana
Hares:- Boobalube and Knockout Neptune

Despite all the restrictions and fear of Covid there was a good turnout for the run. As well as the usual crowd a number of followers of the hares from Sunday had come along and joined the pre-run gaggle beside the river. At the appointed hour the GM called the gaggle to order, and the lead hare gave his briefing. It was a 7km run (which seemed very modest considering who he was), it would take us through a kids playground but we must be careful not to touch anything as it would set a bad example, and there was one place where the trail was a bit difficult but there was an easy way round. After that the pack set off, the FRBs confident they would be back soon after the sun went down.

The first incident of note was where the trail took us off the soi and through some shallow shiggy with slippery wood makeshift stepping stones. As your scribe foolishly didn't have spare footwear he trod very cautiously for fear that if he slipped he would stink out the taxi going home. He got across the shiggy only to discover that the trail led to a back check, and the pack were hoofing it up the soi. It wasn't long before the trail turned off the soi again and took us on grass trails by some large ponds. When the ponds ran out we went along winding paths through housing – not quite slums like Klong Toei, but homes even a real-estate agent couldn't call 'Executive homes'.

By now your scribe was well behind the main pack, but walked with Bullit for the rest of the trail. The device on Bullit's wrist kept on clocking up the kilometres, and we kept on being sure that we were about turn and head for home. After we did eventually turn we came to the place which we guessed was what the hares had called 'tricky'. There was a hole in a wall with a big drop on the far side followed by mud and a wide ditch full of water. Even horses running the Grand National don't have obstacles like these. Bullit and your scribe decided to look for the easy way round and found another hole in a wall, which we presumed was the 'easy way'. It turned out to be just about as tricky as the main trail. Talking to the hare afterwards we learnt that if we had gone back about 200m we could have avoided both, but how were we to know?

Following more paths brought us to the main road that brings traffic from the Bumiphol bridges to Suksawat, which at that time in the evening was two lanes of fast moving traffic. There was no alternative but to take our lives in our hands and shine our torches at the oncoming traffic and hope that the drivers would take pity us (if they weren't talking on their phone to their mia noi), slow down and let us cross. We had to repeat that for the road taking traffic from Suksawat up onto the bridges, and I'm glad to report we had a 100% success rate. Otherwise it would be someone else doing this write-up.

The trail took us along more raised paths, and to our great surprise we came across the FRBs in disarray. As we had been walking for most of the trail these finely honed athletes must have been in this state for some time. Even Tom Yam Gung didn't know where to go, and I thought she'd have heard about the trail in pillow talk. Soon after our arrival the FRBs decided it was a back check, and were never to be seen again until we reached the piss truck. When we eventually arrived at the beer Bullit's device said we'd done 10km (FRBs did 12km with checking), and another wrist device said it was 7:15pm, two hours after setting off. It's rumoured that some runners had to stop to buy new batteries for their torches as they hadn't lasted long enough.

After a bit of social distancing drinking the GM called the circle where the usual down-downs were performed. Unsurprisingly there were no visitors, but returners included Knockout Neptune, Becassine, Bullit and Joylide. Co-hare Knockout Neptune was called in again for not keeping hare Boobalube under control. There was only one nomination for PoW – Off Limits – who had told the hare that the day would be a dry day so the restaurant had changed the reservation to an inside room rather than on the breezy riverside terrace.

Full marks to the hares for going above and beyond the call of duty. A fine way to see out 2020.

OnOn.