'Far too disruptive'

I ran the Ann Arbor Marathon on Sunday. There were long stretches of streets that I was by myself. I could hear drivers talking to police officers who were blocking traffic. One driver was yelling at the police officer because he couldn't get to the street that he wanted. He wanted to know why the streets were closed. The police officer told the driver that he was just doing his job.

The marathon route was all over the city. Most of the streets that was used as the course are very busy streets. The streets in the downtown area were completely shut down. So many businesses in downtown were open, but it didn't look like too many customers were inside. The customers had no way of getting to them.

I saw this article online yesterday about the marathon. John Hieftje, the mayor of Ann Arbor, said the marathon was a disruption to local traffic. "I thought it was far too disruptive and it need to be better, and I'm speaking solely to traffic and how people getting in and out of neighborhoods were affected, " Hieftje said. If Ann Arbor wants to hold a second marathon changes will need to be made for the event to continue in the future.

I don't know what the race director and organizers have planned for next year. It sounds like if no changes are made, the inaugural Ann Arbor Marathon may be its last.