While I am certain this would be pointed out to people before a run I know from experience that a lot of people don't really pay attention when the Hares are speaking to a group before a run and this information could end up adding a lot of pain to your day if it is ignored.
The Wimp/Rambo or it can be referred to by something a lot more crude depending on where you are in the world at the time, simply designates when a run splits into two different sections at some point and this is where you are meant to make a choice about how you want the rest of your day to progress.
When you encounter a W/R on a trail, which will not be often and it will ALWAYS be announced before the run begins, the choice is simple. Rambo, as the name would suggest, is far more difficult whereas Wimp is obviously the easier choice. For us here in Chiang Mai this normally means that the Rambo section is going to be quite steep and perhaps dangerous to certain people with limited mobility. You must carefully choose which one you are going to take because just like most of our runs, there isn't really anyone that can rescue you should you hurt yourself on trail.
Because of the hilly landscape of the Chiang Mai region, some trails can be a bit too much to handle for some of our older or less athletic members and when this happens, rather than throwing everyone to the wolves the hares will decide to make a separate trail for those that aren't really feeling up to the challenge. You do not need to feel at all ashamed about taking the "easy way" out because at the end of it all you are still out there doing 5-7 km of trail run while most of your friends are on the sofa at home watching something on TV. The wimp trail is still challenging, it just doesn't have as much opportunity to fall down for the most part.
We always suggest to people to not try to be a hero. There will be no judgement to anyone that decides to take the wimp route. Not that it would happen anyway, but such criticism is frowned upon and anyone that would dare to throw it out towards anyone else would end up spending a lot of time on the ice because some of our most veteran members, including the legendary TipToe, almost always take the wimp route.
No matter which trail you choose you are still going to be out in the jungle of Chiang Mai in a place that most people that visit here and even most people that live here never get to experience because they don't know where it is. That's just another thing that is very special about being part of any Hash House Harriers group anywhere in the world: They get out there and do stuff in nature and these days it seems as though so few people actually ever do something like that.
We are still doing at least 3 runs per week even over the Christmas holiday. Check out our full schedule at our official website
ON ON!
