This is a silly question and it also has a similarly silly answer because the answer is "whatever the hell you want to wear, but if you wear shoes that are too nice, you are asking for trouble."
If you are brand new to the Hash House Harriers, there is a better than average chance that they are going to take it easy on you for a few weeks but then someone will probably take you over to the side and let you know that the rules, as they are just suggestions and silliness, dictate that nobody should ever be wearing clean shoes and if they are, they have to at least sit on the ice. If you are a regular member and show up with brand new shoes that don't have so much as a scuff on them, well, you are going to be doing a "shoe beer."
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It's called a "shoey" and it is disgusting for sure, but at least it is only your own foot funk that is going to be getting mixed in with your beer that you are kind of being forced to drink. There are ways around this such as if you buy trail running shoes that have "drains" in them and won't hold liquids, then you actually can't be forced to drink a beer out of it and this will seriously disappoint the other members that normally get great enjoyment out of seeing people get hazed.
People need to understand that none of this is real hazing, we are just having fun and you get closer to the other by participating in it. There is no one that we actually pick on and any bullying, if it were to ever happen would get squashed right away.
One thing about footwear that I will say is that no matter where you hash, it is a good idea to bring a backup pair of both socks and shoes. I always bring both and my secondary pair of shoes is normally those sandals that the Germans love to wear socks with.
You need the second pair because a lot of our trails are intentionally very dirty and often the hares try to force us to need to walk through a stream or at least be in a situation where something like that could happen. Chances are you are going to get really hot here too and that leads to sweaty feet and sweaty feet start to get quite uncomfortable, do they not?
I have seen people tackle our trails in flip flops and saw one girl do it in wedge high-heels on a bet because someone said they didn't think that she could do it... she proved them wrong.
In the end wear whatever you want, but just remember that if they are too nice or too new, someone is going to notice and put you on the ice for this very serious infraction.
On On!
