Fun with race literature

Like most people who sign up for and run local 5Ks and the like, I get mailings pretty often inviting me to participate in more local 5Ks and the like. Most of the time I'll already know about the race and blow it off because it doesn't work in to whatever training schedule I'm following at the time to complete some dumb thing I have no business attempting. I'll skim over it then toss it in the trash. But I got one today that made me stare a little harder:


It's not obvious, but all race identifying info has been masked.
Usually when I get race literature in the mail it'll feature the same as everything else in the world that's trying to sell you on an idea: beautiful people doing it without breaking a sweat. But this pamphlet looks like it's using the back of the back of the packers to draw interest to the event. None of the people front and center look like avid runners.

So it got me to thinking. Is this brilliant? Someone could look at it and think, 'here are these ordinary people doing something that takes some drive and effort. If they can do it, why can't I?'

On the other hand, it's hard to not think, 'look at the wide load on that guy!'

But in the end, this is what struck me hardest:


They've gone "green" by not including a registration form on one of the eight full color, heavy stock pages of the pamphlet they sent out through the mail and require people to go to their web site to print their own forms and mail them if they choose to not register online. Which uses more paper and more energy than including it in this pamphlet would have used.

In fact, they could have put the registration form on the panel they wasted bragging about how environmentally conscious they are. Just sayin'.