We’ve signed up a running team at work for the Vancouver Sun Run – the largest 10 km race in Canada, with over 50,000 participants expected. The toughest part wasn’t convincing my non-runner co-workers to commit to pounding 10 km of pavement in April, but deciding on a team name. The suggestions were: Team Awesome, Team Better than Dan, Runners with BO (my suggestion), and Business Rejects (my other suggestion). At one point, it looked like Better than Dan was set to win, although a few of us were dead set against it. But then Nim suggested a compromise candidate: Team H.U.G. (Hurry Up Georges). Still a dig on my room-mate, Mr. Daniel Georges, but more discrete and with added bonus of mandating team hugs.

So, now we’re Team H.U.G. and I’ve started to train for the race. Why, I don’t know. No one else is taking it seriously. I want to see if I can run it under 40 minutes. Or at least get myself into good enough shape to run the half marathon in May or June.

I went for an hour run yesterday along the seawall. It was a beautiful day. Sunny and warm. The seawall was packed with people. It was one of those days in Vancouver when the endless rain clouds finally break, and everyone packs the beaches and trails along the waters’ edge and basks in the natural beauty.

I ran through Stanley Park. It’s the first time I’ve been through there since the big storm in December. I’ve seen pictures of the damage, but in person it was still shocking. Even in the trails they’ve cleaned up and re-opened to the public you can see giant trees that have been ripped in half or yanked from the ground.

Today, I went for a second run with Daniel. Nim was too lazy to join us. The weather was beautiful again and the seawall was once again packed. Near English Bay, we came across a woman with a “Free Hugs” sign. Given that we’re Team H.U.G., I couldn’t pass up the opportunity, so I gave her a good sweaty runner hug. Her friend was filming it on a little camcorder, so maybe I’ll end up on YouTube like these people:

In cooking news, I’m keeping up with my weekly new recipe pledge. This week: South American Black Bean Soup – a recipe my mother passed on. It was so tasty, I had 2 bowls.