Most runs I’ve been on in the last year (and yes, I can count them on one hand) were with my gal pals in Vancouver’s Endowment Lands. The area is forest cool and with 33 miles of trails there is a guaranteed no boredom clause. Other than a martini hydration station somewhere in the middle, you can’t ask for much more.

Interested? Here are the unwritten rules:

· It’s BlackBerry free so turn your totaling consuming telly to silent. Nobody wants their urban escape ruined by a Pussy Cat Dolls’ ringtone.

· Your skinny, venti, marble mocha macchiato with three pumps of sugar free caramel are not invited. This is Vancouver. Bring a bit of granola, a GU sports gel or some Gatorade in a BPA-free water bottle.

· Don’t run alone and don’t run at night. It is my opinion that the Endowment Lands can turn into Sleepy Hollow after dark, including a possible cameo from the Headless Horseman.

· Make sure that volume on your iPod isn’t set to “hearing loss”. I can only imagine the frustration of the hiker, the biker and their dog as they offer a courteous, “on your left”, only to find some slowpoke doing the meringue mid-trail, Gypsy Kings power song ablarin’.

· Enjoy the sky-climbing timbers, the ocean breeze, the smell of fresh rain and the air of UBC academia so close by. It is also a must to encourage the grade three field-trip students with their bark rubbing experiment.

· MOST of all feel absolutely free to cool down with a skinny dip at Wreck Beach. But no running there…nobody wants to see that.

Check it out!