B oy, I can't say that I'm a fan of waking up at 6:30 a.m. the be ready to cheer on two of my sisters and one of their boyfriends running the Hartford Half-Marathon Saturday, October 11, 2008.

 

Aside from being a gorgeous day out there today, it was awesome to see like 10,000 people taking advantage of what the city has to offer.

 

Best moments for me - obviously the photo above. I rode my road bike around the city, on the course, loving the lack of cars, rooting not just my siblings and their significant others, but anyone bold enough to attempt a 13.1 or 26.2 mile run.

 

I don't have the knees for it. My oldest sister, who has run these types of races around the world, said HPD was on target and doing a good job. So kudos to the boys in blue. And all the music at all the stops was energetic.

 

It makes me wonder, though, if we need all this electricity to pump rock and roll through the atmosphere. Why not just acoustic? Along the east side of the river, at mile 20, I heard some gentlement banging on drums, and it seemed plenty loud.

 

In Bushnell Park, after the race, the noise of amplifiers rung through my head, and it seemed to distract from the quality of hang-out time I had with my family.

 

Jodi Rell's OneThing, a sponsor of the event, and which also had a table in the Park, should be so innovative as to wonder whether or not we need such loud music. It strikes me as odd, considering that after a bicycle race I threw, the police attended to our loudness not once, but twice.

 

So if it offends my neighbors, why should we tolerate it at such a massive event? Has our culture gotten the best of our sensitivities?

 

Anyways, Congrats to the Hartford Marathon volunteers and staff who put on a great race.

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