Club Ed Running is a community running club located in the South Bay Beach Cities region of Los Angeles. Our goal is to help runners of all ages and fitness enjoy the sport of running at all levels of speed, experience, talent and goals. We provide organized venues for members to train and experienced guidance to help runners of all levels improve. With a low-key approach to personal improvement fueled by each runner’s individual motivation, the club provides a way for new runners to meet other local runners, discover new places to run, and to learn and practice better ways to train. It also encourages support of the local running community by helping out at local races and encouraging members to challenge themselves to achieve their fitness and training goals.

Our running group ranges from ~20 years old to 80+ years, men and women, fast and slow, racers and joggers…so you likely fit in there somewhere! Our runners live in Manhattan Beach, El Segundo, Hermosa Beach, Redondo Beach, Hawthorne, Lawndale, Torrance, Gardena, Marina Del Rey, Palos Verdes, Rancho Palos Verdes, Rolling Hills,  and many other surrounding communities. We have 15-minute-per-mile people jogging and hoping to eventually be able to run a 5K without stopping, to five-minute-per-mile racers who compete and win the local races. The group is a nice mix of friendly people who enjoy running for competition, fitness, weight control, stress relief, and as a social activity. We can help you develop a training program you can stick with and can (almost) guarantee that if you run with us and stick to it, you will improve. 

As a club member, you get current advice and training guidance from an experienced coach and teammates to help you achieve your training goals for running distances from once around the block to marathons. Some runners prefer a day-by-day detailed training plan, while others lean towards a more hands-off approach, with only occasional check-ins. Whatever your preference, Ed can work with you to provide what is needed to help your running improve.

You’ll learn about a bunch of training courses to try and meet other runners in the area to train with. You’ll get new ideas for how to improve your running and, if interested, racing. You will work as hard as you choose (effort counts!), make new training partners and friends, socialize and train together, … and run faster, longer and stronger than you may have thought you could!

Although not our only focus, Club Ed Running is a registered US Track and Field (USATF) Road Racing and Track Club, in the Southern California section of USATF. Our runners compete in district and national events, and in some years, we have even won the District road racing Grand Prix club series! We participate in several popular regional races, organize and send teams to compete and enjoy the excitement of inter-club competitions, and generally help to make regional running a broader and more engaging experience.

Our group is sponsored by a great community running shoe store, the Village Runner (VR). There are two store locations (one in Redondo Beach and one in Manhattan Beach). By arrangement through our sponsor, club members get discounted entry into all VR-sponsored races, as well as a discount at the VR stores. The staff at Village Runner are knowledgeable, friendly, and experienced runners who can help you make good selections for shoes, clothing, and support stuff – shop there and support our club sponsor!

If you decide to join the group, we have an annual membership fee ($120 per year). These funds are used to help pay club fees (USATF membership, club liability and insurance), defray gasoline costs for carpools to travel to regional races, offset a portion of uniform and equipment costs, cover club social events (food, drinks, awards), and provide for miscellaneous related running items.

Absolutely; in fact, before you commit to or sign up for anything, we encourage you to come by and run with us a few times. See if the group and the training are what you are looking for, without feeling pressured to make a quick decision or commitment. We hope you will decide to join the running club, but if you don’t, there are other local groups we can tell you about to try out as well. So let’s get started; hope to see you at the next workout!

Ed Avol is the founder and Head Coach of Club Ed Running (the original group picked the clever name!). Ed had been a founding member and coach of the Manhattan Beach Track Club (MBTC) in the 1980s, then moved to northern California in 1990 for a job opportunity. When he returned to Manhattan Beach in 1992, former MBTC members encouraged him to coach again, and the group quickly developed.

Ed has been a competitive runner since 1966, racing for schools, clubs, and independently in running events from track middle-distances to marathons. He is an accomplished runner in his own right (4:01 1500m, 32:04 10K, 2:30 marathoner), and he is still competitive in his age group at a range of road distances (…slower and older, but still at it!). He has helped to start, manage, and coach several successful running clubs in Southern California. His coaching and training have been heavily influenced by his own coach and mentor Laszlo Tabori, the third man ever to run a sub-four-minute mile. Tabori was a Hungarian middle-distance star who migrated to the US and actively coached collegiate and community athletes for 50 years, until his passing in 2018. Ed’s been coaching runners since the late 1970s. His style and coaching approach have helped 1000s of runners and triathletes succeed in road racing from 5K to ultras, so let’s get started on building your program!.