Speaking of Howard St., I just found this little chesnut re: the Marathon a couple weeks ago, submitted by Marie Elb of Baltimore on 10/18 (If you could get around Howard Street, you were golden. But Mt. Royal Ave., the only useful route, was clogged by the Brown Center opening at MICA):

"The organizers of the traffic control for this event fell short. (I am being charitable here, as I think stronger words are called for) Thanks to the lousy organization of traffic control/rerouting, you can count this wage-earner O-U-T for any future donations to this or any other Baltimore-city-based marathon. I WILL NOT EVER make donations to support a marathon again, as I have in the past. There are many other fundraisers out there that don't cause me to waste a precious day of my time."