Bike shops have been cropping up all over London– almost in inverse proportion to petrol (aka gas) stations which all but disappeared from the city center in the past few years. The sign that the bike phenomenon is well and truly part of the zeitgeist is when you start seeing non-bike activities catering exclusively (or sorta exclusively) to the pedal-phile.

The romance of Sunday league football is the subject of Reality Football by photographer, Alan Powdrill. A real labor of love, it has taken him three years to complete. The images are a reminder that the Beautiful Game isn’t about 7-figure salaries, it’s about grit and determination and that unexplainable buzz you get from kicking a football about, and getting covered in mud.

Like all relationships, it’s important to tend to the one you have with running and approach it with vigor. That is to say, if things are starting to fall flat… spice it up! Here are a few suggestions and things I have tried or heard about that help keep things interesting out on the road.

For those in Los Angeles County who many not be able to trek towards the beach without hitting the freeway and are not within arm’s reach of a National Forest, there is always urban trail running along the Los Angeles River and my most recent discovery, Rio Hondo, an tributary of the Los Angeles River.

Training for your first 5k, half marathon, full marathon or otherwise? Every runner has his or her own pace, weekly mileage, that eventually develops over time and trial and error (especially if you are me). For those of you who are relatively new to running or are an on and off again casual runner looking for a more structured plan for an upcoming race… here are some good (free) online training tools to help get you started.

To help remind everyone what to be aware of while on the road, I looked up common safety rules in various running situations I thought would be helpful to share… Here are six rules that stood out to me as absolute musts.

If you’ve ever lived in what is now the hipster enclave that is Silverlake, or even taken a late afternoon drive around the reservoir you’ve probably seen a shirtless, overly tanned middle-aged man walking… very quickly.

If you are tired of using the same run of the mill ways of finding running routes around your neighborhood, several new tried and true routes are as easy to find as clicking through a popular social media outlet. Here are a few high traffic sites (which are non-running and sports specific) that you may have left untapped.

If you are in the middle of training for your first half marathon, marathon, or what have you, be warned of five of these overtraining signs before you find yourself a trampled, injured, frustrated or benched runner due to OTS (OverTraining Syndrome – yup, there’s even an official term with acronym for it!)

Excited to run the Malibu Marathon?! I know I am! I recently received notice of a cool new offering the organizers of the race have up and coming this month: a first in a series of small training clinics that swear to have you “love running again.”

I haven’t made a final call on how I feel about naked running, even with the noticeable improvement in pace as soon as my Garmin was out of commission. I still ask myself if it was the real reason I hit my pace goals for this last Ragnar. For my piece of mind, I’m opting for half naked training till I fix or replace my Garmin.

Tired of the same old 26.2 and want to kick your mileage up a notch? Love the trails and the smell of the Pacific Ocean? Say no more, the ultra races that SoCal has to offer might just be up your alley.

With natural alternatives and a little knowledge wouldn’t it be easier to just stock our fridges with things like coconut water or cranberry juice versus neon green powders to just add water to? Not to mention saving the grief on consuming additives that most people can’t pronounce without an interpreter.

After over a year and a half of running without any running partner whatsoever (but desperately wanting one) I am currently training with 1, 2, 3!

Since traditional Fourth of July festivities (i.e. fireworks) usually can’t happen till after dark why not kick off the party this Sunday with a race or a fun run? There are plenty of events from quick one-mile runs to more challenging 10k races to choose from.

Wimbledon took an odd, hooliganish turn this week; Romania’s Victor Hanescu easily had the worst day – worldwide – Friday.

If your running partner happens to use all four legs, there are dozens of local trails you can go to give him/her a great workout. Some of these parks and trails will even allow you to have your dog off-lease giving your little friend some freedom to run alongside of you. Here are nine dog-friendly trail running options in Los Angeles to try.

Presented with no commentary, here is Ron Artest recording his song “Champions” just hours after the Lakers’ big win.

The ever-evolving sports technologies along with the increasing popularity of distance races have brought up a question: How can, or should, casual racers properly hydrate themselves during training or on race day? With hydration in mind, what cost should the casual runner bear and keep in mind for besting performance without taking too much of a hit on the wallet

I’m always looking for an excuse to download a new app on my iPhone. If it happens to be fitness/running related, I’m even more eager to get it. If it also happens to be free then, SOLD… which is why I immediately downloaded Jillian Michaels’ very first iPhone app on its release day.