CEDAR FALLS - Josh Collins shoes' should be immortalized in bronze.

In a box.

Instead, Collins, 25, proudly wears the once-green sneakers, now a muddied brown, dusted with flour and sticky with beer. The soles are loved: he can put his entire hand between the smooth rubber bottom and the footbed.

"I can't get rid of these," Collins says, incredulous at the suggestion. "They're my hashing shoes."

Collins has spent 176 Thursdays with the Cedar Falls Hash House Harriers, a group of men and women who claim to be a "drinking club with a running problem."

The Hash House Harriers, locally dubbed CFH3, is a tradition that originated in 1938, when a group of British company men started a "hare and hounds" running group. They named it in honor of their Malaysian meeting place, the Selangor Club, aka the "Hash House."

Hash runs involve a scavenger hunt route that takes runners across various terrain. Throughout the run, participants search for markings and stop at bars or outdoor rest stops to enjoy a beer (or water, if the participant does not drink).

Today there are thousands of Hash House Harrier clubs all over the world, complete with regional and world hashing conventions.

Collins' "hashing shoes" have been beer-stained since his first run. All first-time hashers must go through an initiation, or "shoe baptism." The ceremony is led by the "hare," which is the proper name of the person who designs the night's route. All runners stand in a circle, sing a short song about hash runs and then the hare sprinkles the virgin-runner's shoes with the hash mark mixture (called "the chad"). Beer is drizzled over the top to ensure staining.

The early runs were patterned after the traditional British public school paper chase. A "hare" would be given a short head start to blaze a trail, marking his way with shreds of paper, soon to be pursued by a pack of "harriers." Only the hare knew the route; the harriers followed his marks to stay on trail. The goal is to solve the hare's marks and reach the end of the trail, at which point harriers would find a tub of iced-down beer.

Today's runs are much the same.

On an April 1 hash run, 12 harriers converge at Suds on College Street in Cedar Falls. The group is eclectic: men, women, students, grandparents.

The all-star cast includes 47-year-old Rusty Easton, who served as the hare for one of CFH3's most complicated runs: six beer stops in two blocks and then six miles through a muddy Black Hawk Park. Other regulars include 57-year-old Jack Scheeler, who has participated in more than 2,000 hash runs in nine countries.

Six runs earns you a nickname. Collins goes by "Franken Weinie," and Easton goes by "Rusty Nailer" during the hash run. Scheeler wears short running shorts, a fisherman's hat and a gray sweatshirt embroidered with "Sheila."

"My strangest race was in the Princess Islands off the coast of Turkey," Scheeler says. "We took a ferry to the biggest island, hashed on the island, then rappelled down the cliffs to a beautiful white beach."

Scheeler's international hash experience was made possible by his 40-year army career.

Today, the retired Scheeler lives in Dorchester. Twice a month he drives his red Ford Probe to Cedar Falls, rents a room (this week at the Trails End Lodge) and participates in the hash run.

"It's not a race, there is no competitiveness, nobody cares what you do for a living, and you go out there to have a fun time," Scheeler says.

The communal nature of the race is evident from the start. The nylon running shorts and doo-rags worn by participants are merely an athletic formality; the race is much more about fellowship and creativity than it is about running and drinking.

In honor of April Fools Day, hashers follow the markings from Suds into Pour Richard's down the street, where the bartender reads their clue: "April Fools! Get into your vehicles and carpool to Toad's on Main Street."

Curious laughter ensues. People cram into a large van and Scheeler's Probe.

At Toad's, the bartender reads the same note, this time telling runners to drive to the Panther Lounge, where the next clue tells them to drive to the Other Place on University Avenue.

The CFH3 members are restless when they arrive at the Panther Lounge. Even though expected at the OP, CFH3 has an impromptu beer stop (and song session) at the Panther Lounge.

To the sensitive ear, the songs' lyrics are sexist.

"Every once in a while it's very offensive and womanizing, but you take it with a grain of salt," says Laura Bowers, on her second hash run. "You just say, 'I'm not going to get offended tonight' and you just have fun."

At the OP, the hash run actually begins. After a few pitchers of water and beer, the harriers are ready to go.

The night's route takes the runners across University Avenue, through the residential neighborhoods behind Hobby Lobby, and through an ungroomed field thick with pricker bushes and weeds. The hare designed the route so runners would have to hop the barbed wire fence along Greenhill Road.

Runners wear whistles around their necks to redirect any lost runners. Every time a lead runner finds the next chad, a whistle pierces the night air. Confused runners breath a sigh of relief at the directional notification.

Chad markings eventually lead harriers to Broosters, where a longer song session takes over the dance floor.

"There's no such thing as a bad trail," Scheeler says, holding a beer and wiping the sweat from his brow.

Rick Troupe, better known as Chief Babble On, was one of the last runners to arrive at Broosters. He and Scheeler got lost along the way, but since the hash run is not a race, they enter the bar grinning and laughing.

"It's not about the drinking or running at all. It's the camaraderie," Troupe says. "The best part is when we stand in a circle and sing songs, tell stories, we're all together, we don't think of age, we just have fun."