Saucony sponsors loo for marathon training runs

(The above photo was provided by Saucony.)

Saucony, the Lexington-based running shoe brand, said it plans to maintain a portable toilet along a Newton stretch of the Boston Marathon route where runners training for the event have sometimes made unsanctioned back-yard "pit stops" - much to the dismay of the home owners.

The loo will be removed April 13, a week before the race; its purpose is to provide convenience for runners who want to take pre-marathon training runs on the actual marathon course, a Saucony spokesman said.

According to the website of the Boston Athletic Association, this year's Boston Marathon is scheduled for April 20.

In a press release, Saucony said: "'We know pit stops happen … because we run,' reads the sign on the recently placed porta-john along Commonwealth Avenue’s access road in Newton, Mass. As a neighborhood along the Boston Marathon route, residents of 'The Garden City' also know that pit stops happen─on their property."

In an effort to help runners and Newton residents alike, Saucony said it will sponsor "a portable toilet service for one month along this highly traveled section of the marathon course."

The company's press release included a statement from Sharon Barbano, Saucony's vice president of public relations, athletes, and events.

“On those long runs, nature often calls and this stretch of road offers no place for impromptu relief, except the bushes and gardens on or near private homes," Barbano said. "We hope this pit stop offers a practical solution for both the runners and the neighborhood during the final weeks of Boston training."

Saucony is a subsidiary of Collective Brands Inc. and a division of the Stride Rite Corp.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff. File photo of the Boston Marathon: Jonathan Wiggs, Globe staff.)