We have been restricted by Covid regulations and have been shut down by our own decision because we didn't want to cause any problems or end up on social media for the wrong reasons. People have been getting busted for simply having too many people in the same place at the same time so for us to be singing songs and drinking beer in a group at certain locations would probably be the wrong kind of press to get. Therefore we elected to stop our runs.
We have resumed our runs at the advisement of a police officer and have to adhere to a certain number of rules that we follow to a certain degree.
For one thing we have to cap the total number of attendees to 20 or less and seeing as how there are so few of us left in town I can say that I don't really have a problem with that since we are very unlikely to achieve that number anyway.
Also we are meant to stay a certain distance away from one another and wear a mask. The staying away from one another is quite easy until the circle but then we are actually kind of being strict about it because we want to be able to continue to do this sort of thing.
The masks we will put them on if we hit a street but once we are in the jungle they tend to come off. It's just too hard to breathe with this heat and humidity and the fact that we are running (well, some of us are.)
Back at the circle we have to maintain a certain distance from one another and while it is stupid and a nuisance we comply, because it would only take one photo from someone passing by for it to get us into loads of trouble.
Most of our locations are pretty remote, so the "getting into trouble" thing is really unlikely... plus we did get permission from the police to do this and even have a printout should any local copper try to hassle us about it. However, in order for that document to mean anything we have to be adhering to the rules, even if most of us think they are arbitrary and stupid.
At least we get to do some hashing and after 6 weeks or so of being completely forbidden from doing so that is at least a step in the right direction and we are happy to comply with these rules for the time being.
If you are in the Chiang Mai area and want to join us we ask that you contact us beforehand so we can make sure there is space. For the time being we will NOT exceed the 20 person limit under any circumstances.
