Back when he lived in Singapore many of Imagethief's friends used to run with the Hash House Harriers, the "drinking club with a running problem". Imagethief, being a solitary, sober runner used to give that miss. But it did sound like a sloshing good time.

Apparently there is a chapter here in Beijing as well, where, as we all know, a frosty beer can really help rinse the post-run coal soot out of your throat. However it seems that the group recently ran afoul of Beijing's tightening pre-Olympic security and lack of tolerance for zany foreign behavior. The story is now posted online. By way of background, hashers use funny nicknames and mark their path with flour:

At one point during the circle, one of the female hashers went inside the Rickshaw to purchase food. While she was there, she was informed that the police had been there earlier looking for a group of runners. Back outside she went, only to find no less than10 policemen, complete with 4 cars all standing around. When asked if she was part of the running group who had been going around the area, she realized that the shorts, t-shirts and runners she was wearing would make ‘no’, not really an option.

Over to the circle the police came and wanted to know about the suspicious substance that they had been throwing around the streets of Beijing.  The Hashers were told that the police were tipped off about a group of foreigners running around the area, throwing and mysterious white substance onto the ground. The police had apparently discovered the trail and had been following the hashers and their trail all the way back to the Rickshaw. Turns out that the hashers were all live hares and were being pursued by the police. The Hashers were also informed that they were running in an “Olympic Zone” and the police were worried about the mysterious powder and terrorist activities.  The Hashers tried to explain that it was only flour and had just purchased the bag at Jinkelong for 13 kuai. They even provided the empty bag as proof (aka exhibit A). The police were not convinced.

Getting cold, and having to await the arrival of the police El Capitaine, the Hashers decided to go into the Rickshaw and have some food and Beer. Long Legs nicely purchased a round and Trixxxie was seen eating 2 chilidogs. After a short time however, the manager of the Rickshaw was not too pleased with Police in his bar and informed the Hashers that they must immediately leave. Off to the Police station it was decided they go. They piled into the police cars and as they drove away they heard the words “I don’t think there will be any Hash events at the Rickshaw again anytime soon”, uttered by its manager.

At the police station, the 7 remaining Hashers who failed to earlier escape, were asked for ids and passport numbers. Willy Wanker, dressed back again in his spiffy work attire, broke out the diplomatic id, and was from then on only referred to by the Beijing police, and “the one who works for the Embassy”. With a few clicks of a button, the Hashers’ Chinese paper work was printed out to be analyzed. The clock on the wall read “106 days till the Olympics” and the hashers were feeling the One World, One Dream sentiment.

The rest is online. And you'd think that runners would be appreciated in this time of sporting celebration.

Hat tip to reader and runner L. for sending this story along.