This weekend I took part in my first red dress run, which was a whole bunch of drunk people in red dresses running around the quarter causing utter chaos. So, it was a typical Saturday in New Orleans. According to the New Orleans Hash House Harriers, this years Red Dress Run had over 5000 runners, which means that New Orleans has the largest Red Dress Run in the world.
I ended up making it to about 5 of the designated bars before becoming lost and just wondered around the quarter, with Mary, Jack, and Ben. The “race” started and ended at the Ernst Cafe and there was a concert afterwards. There was a truck that pulled a trailer full of beer, in case you did not want to go into the bar. Besides the five thousand people that registered there was easily another one to two thousand more that put on a red dress and ran with the group. My hat is off to the NOPD which blocked off streets for the race. I cannot believe that any other city in the country would be able to have five thousand drunks run around through its heart on a Saturday with no major injuries.
A man of my size has a hard time finding a dress and by Friday, there were no red dresses left in the city. I will be on the look out for a bad ass dress for next years run. Maybe I will buy a size smaller to encourage me to lose weight.
Here is your history courtesy of wikipedia.
What are the Hash House Harriers?
The Hash House Harriers (abbreviated to HHH, H3, or referred to simply as Hashing) is an international group of non-competitive running, social, and drinking clubs. An event organized by a club is known as a Hash or Hash Run, with participants calling themselves Hashers.
What is the Red Dress Run?
A common special event is the Red Dress Run, and is held annually by individual kennels. According to hasher lore, a newcomer in San Diego was invited to a hash; unbeknownst to her it was a running group, and she attended the run in a red dress instead of running clothes. After being mocked for wearing such an outfit, she ran the trail anyway. Other hashers began wearing red dresses as a joke, and the tradition soon became an annual event that spread across the world. The point of the run is that all participants (both sexes) don red dresses of various sorts. The Red Dress Run is typically the largest event organized by a kennel in a given year, with attendance topping 2,000 in San Diego, and 600 in Washington, D.C.. The largest Red Dress Run event is currently in New Orleans, with approximately 3000 participants.
Red Dress Runs are traditionally used as charity fundraisers, although the hash itself is not per se a charitable body.
