You’ve probably seen this on Twitter, Facebook or YouTube. If not, here’s the movie trailer for HOOD TO COAST. The movie follows four quirky teams on their epic journey to conquer the world’s largest relay race. Winning isn’t everything in this character-driven documentary that takes a celebratory look at motivation and attempting the extraordinary.

If this doesn’t make you want to head up and take part of this “funfest,” I don’t know what would. Anybody run in this relay or have plans to this year?

Again, seeing that the Rock-n-Roll Las Vegas Marathon is my hometown race, I’d like to offer my expertise to those of you who are not very familiar with Las Vegas. My wife and I were discussing the best place for her and my kidz to see me during the marathon route and it got me thinking of the best places for spectators to watch the race. You can also see the official race website locations by clicking here. I’ll break it down by categories:

Don’t want to deal with traffic and cool temperatures.

• Stay at home and watch the race on KLAS TV Channel 8. Last year they did 2 hours live coverage and then did an hour recap later in the day (so participants could watch). I will know the times of coverage early next week and will update my Twitter and Facebook pages with that information. Not a fan or following us in social media yet? Click on the Twitter and Facebook links now.

1/2 Marathon Spectators

• Seeing that the nearly the whole race is being run on the strip provides numerous opportunities to view the race. Your best bet is to find a place on one of the many overhead walkways that span Las Vegas Boulevard. There are sidewalks as well but a view from above should be really cool.
• The most activity will be around Mile 3 between Tropicana and Harmon (near the MGM and Planet Hollywood hotels). There will be a band there and couples will be getting married near here around 7:15 am. This spot will also give you time to hoof it back to the finish line to cheer your favorite runner home.
• Spring Mountain and Las Vegas Boulevard. On the west side of the Strip is Treasure Island (T.I.) and the Fashion Show Mall. Here you can cheer on the 1/2 marathoners return and also bid farewell to the marathoners as they venture west for their epic journey.
• Start/Finish line. From my past experience, there’s nothing like the excitement at the beginning of a race. Fireworks, Air Force fly overs and atmosphere can be thrilling (no only for runners but the spectators as well). It’s also cool to see the sea of humanity in the corrals. I still am in awe every time that there are so many of us!!!

Full Marathon Spectators

• Hands down the best spot this year is on the corner of Rainbow Boulevard and Hacienda Avenue. Black Market Music will be rockin’ the corner and you will have 3 (yes 3) chances to see runners cross this intersection. The route goes west on Hacienda and turns north on Rainbow – does a U Turn back to Hacienda – west on Hacienda where we U Turn again back down to Rainbow and towards the Strip. On the southeast corner of this intersection is Spring Valley Hospital and there will be ample parking available. It also has easy access but you need to approach the intersection from the south. I recommend taking the I-215 and exiting north on Rainbow. After your favorite runner passes you the third time, you can take Russell Road east straight down to Mandalay Bay for the finish. Depending on how fast your runner is you’ll have about 30-40 minutes to make it down – should be plenty of time.
• Any of the other 1/2 marathon sites will work here as well but you’ll have more time to hang out before your runner returns to the finish.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask. See you all in a week!!!

RMFR

This is a pretty cool thing if you haven’t seen it yet. Ed Norton, three Maasai warriors and a cast of 30 other runners (including David Blaine and Alanis Morissette) will be running in the ING New York City Marathon to raise awareness for the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust. Click here to visit the website and learn more about this great cause. You can also follow Ed Norton on Twitter and get constant updates on how you can sponsor a runner and win prizes.

Thanks to @gdarsi for posting this on Twitter. Hilarious. I love the last scene.

With the boom of social media, it’s easier now more than ever to keep in touch with what’s going on in running. Like most of you, it drives me nuts when I go to my favorite running blogs only to find there’s nothing new since the last time I visited. This simple solution…subscribe. I subscribe to quite a few blogs and get email updates when new content is posted. There are actually three ways you can do that with One Runner’s Brain:

• Subscribe to this blog. Directly underneath the sponsor ads for TeamAMC and Bonnie’s Country Classic, there is a subscribe form. Simply enter your email address and you will get an email every time new content is posted. Don’t worry about getting hit with a bunch of email marketing from me…I don’t have the time.
• Follow us on Twitter. Ah, yes, the land of tweets. For those of you out there on the social bandwagon, this might be your cup of tea. CLICK HERE to visit our Twitter page. You will also get updates on our posts as well as additional content within our running community.
• Follow us on Facebook. Another option for those of you that like to keep up with your high school sweethearts. CLICK HERE to visit our Facebook page and become a fan. Our blog posts get updated here as well and will be viewable on your wall.

All these links can also be found under the Personal links page on the right navigation bar. See you on the social network!!!

There’s no denying it – we’re in the “social media” age. From Facebook to Twitter and a million blogs in between (present company included), there are more outlets to information than ever before. My advice to you…grab on and hold on tight.

To be honest, it’s just too much. How much information can one runner’s brain actually handle? I don’t want to find out. From now on, I’m going to treat social media as I do talking to my wife – selective listening (just a joke honey – SERIOUSLY – I’m just joking…honey?).

When I first signed up on Twitter, I followed everybody and their mother…yes I did actually follow somebody’s mother. I finally reached my breaking point after reading several posts by Lance Armstrong feeding his kids various types of sandwiches several days in a row. Could the signs have been any clearer?

My Twitter page now reads like a “who’s who” in the running world. That’s what I really want to know about. I DO care what Ryan Hall eats before his 15K training run. I DO want to know that Dean Karnazes ran the LA Marathon and kept running south thru California until he ran the San Diego Rock ‘n Roll Marathon (which is later next year and may be on my schedule next year) the following week. You can’t get that anywhere else and you have to admit, it’s good stuff! And the best part is, they’re runners and don’t have the time to post every hour on the hour.

With a little discipline and a reckless abandon to hit the “Don’t Follow” button, you too can lead a sane and informational Twitter life.