VIP Toilets

I think this is really exciting. Not just as an employee of a portable toilet company, but as a runner as well:

If You Want a Royal Flush, Buy Brooks

Sunday, October 12, 2008; From the Washington Post

Every runner has been there, usually just before a race, standing in a slow-moving line while waiting to use a cold, dirty porta-potty -- with or without toilet paper.

"I thought, 'Wouldn't it be cool for runners to have a nice bathroom experience instead,' " said Dave Larson, vice president of marketing for Brooks shoes.

Larson's outside-the-pot thinking will result in a unique promotion near the start of the Oct. 26 Marine Corps Marathon. Runners wearing 2008 Brooks MCM apparel sold at the race expo or simply Brooks shoes will have access to a VIP porta-potty with partitioned stalls, climate control, hot and cold running water and plenty of TP.

An attendant dressed in a mock tuxedo will provide assistance along a velvet rope line on a red carpet.

"Come in and you'll get the full treatment," Larson said. "Just like on the movie sets."

That is pretty accurate: When Oprah Winfrey famously ran Marine Corps in 1994, no one saw her waiting in line with the hoi polloi, because she had her own trailer parked near the start with complete toilet facilities. "Oprah doesn't do porta-potties," her publicist sniffed. With the proper gear on marathon day, neither will you.