renaming the 1/2 IM to IM 70.3

I dunno, people get their panties in a bunch over the fact that the 70.3 is preceded by "IM" ought to find other things to worry about.

Other groups have also gotten in on the game. I saw somewhere recently where a race director was calling a half marathon a "Marathon 13.1." Can I then brag to mom and dad that I "did a marathon................................................(13.1)?"

It is all a marketing gimmick. To some, the "half" preceding "Ironman" or "marathon" minimizes its antecedent. From a psychological standpoint, the Race Directors believe that we will all feel better about ourselves and our accomplishments when bragging to our lowly sedentary co-workers that we completed the very studly "IRONMAN 70.3" as opposed to that easy little itty bitty "half" that anyone can do with a couple weeks training.

In response to the actual question, I would say that the other posters are right in stating the obvious proposition that you can wear whatever you want and tatoo whatever you want wherever you want. I bought an M-dot visor at the expo of my first half Ironman race because I liked the way it looked. I also sometime wear technical fiber shirts that have the "Nike" swoosh or UnderArmor logo on them -- even though I don't own any Nike shoes or go "click clack" when I run. It is a brand just like any other. Most people won't even know what the heck it is.

Regarding the tatoo, and putting aside the whole debate of whether someone should or should not get a tatoo for the full iron distance, it seems that getting an M-dot tatoo in its current form for completing a 70.3 race is a bit intellectually dishonest. The clear implication with such a tatoo for about 99.9% of even the triathlon population is that you did a full Iron distance race. Thus, you'd basically be subjecting yourself to the look of disappointment on the person that you're talking to when you subsequently explain to them that you didn't ACTUALLY do an Ironman distance race, but that you decided to get the tatoo anyway because WTC or whomever developed a clever marketing campaign to make us feel twice as good about ourselves at half the distance. Although your suggestion that the Ironman corporation use a different color scheme / design for the marketing logo would certainly lead someone to start pasting them on their cars, bodies, etc.

As for me personally, I still call the races a "Half Ironman," but I don't begrudge those who call it an Ironman 70.3. They still hurt just the same.

I like calling it a "70.3". I've actually had a few fat friends say to me after I told them I just did a half ironman, "Oh, you only did a HALF of the ironman race?" So saying 70.3 to these hacks is much more impressive to their minds.

Oh, and I wear NO clothing that has an M dot but no '70.3' on it...again, false advertising. And I got a solid black M Dot tattoo with a '70.3' outlined naked in the middle of it, so the 70.3 is very visible, but when I finally complete a full ironman I'll fill it in the rest of the way.