A short drive east of Tallahassee on Mahan Drive (aka US 90), Monticello, Florida will be hosting its 32nd annual Melon Run 5K on Saturday morning, 19 June 2010. I'm not sure that anyone in Monticello even knows that it's the 32nd annual run, but they just keep hosting them like clockwork every year as part of Jefferson County's Watermelon Festival. This year will be the 60th annual Jefferson County Watermelon Festival, so as festival events go, the race is a mere youngster. It is old enough to have gone through several courses already, although each of those courses has been certified since the 10th annual race in 1988.A little bit farther away in Gainesville, the Florida Track Club also hosts a Melon Run, also in its 32nd year. the Gainesville Melon Run is slightly shorter and younger, though, because it is a three-mile race that has always been held on the Fourth of July. Everyone knows that the "melon" in both events is "watermelon." No one is going to run for cantaloupe or honeydew.
Running for watermelon is popular. Chipley, Florida's "Hot Trot 5K" has occasionally been known as the "Watermelon Run" during its history, probably because it is part of the Chipley Watermelon Festival. Winter Park's Fourth of July 5K is known unambiguously as the Watermelon Run. Not content to have just one Watermelon Run, Lake Hollingsworth, Florida has a series of four Watermelon Runs. This isn't just a Florida phenomenon, either. Cordele, Georgia has already held its 2010 Watermelon Road Race, both a 12K and a 5K. Watermelon runs are also slated for Jackson, Mississippi; Beauregard, Louisiana; Hampton, South Carolina; Murfreesboro, North Carolina; Hope, Arkansas; Long Beach, California; Sunnyvale, California; Watsonville, California; Van Nuys, California; Russellville, Alabama; Stockdale, Texas; and the appropriately named Vining, Minnesota. The list goes on, too.
Races named after produce are not unusual. There is a Rice Run and a Mayhaw 5K and a Tomato Trot and several Peanut Runs. But the proliferation of Watermelon Runs has to have set some kind of a record. Sure, there are more "Turkey Trots" around the country, but what else are you going to name a Thanksgiving Day race? Part of the Watermelon Run story has to be the number of Watermelon Festivals around the country, many of which have a race associated with them. The National Watermelon Promotion Board has attempted to maintain a list of these festivals, but I wouldn't be surprised if they missed a few. But all the festival issue does is change the question from why so many watermelon races to why so many watermelon festivals. Anyway, there are more than a few watermelon races out there that aren't associated with festivals.Maybe it is because watermelon is the perfect fitness food. Maybe it's because watermelon is associated with the outdoors (your mama raised you better than to spit seeds indoors). Maybe because watermelon is associated with everything that is good and happy about summer. I don't know. It's a question for social scientists to pretend to answer. But I do know that you can include a watermelon run on your summer racing schedule without even trying.
Links:
- Jefferson County Watermelon Festival
http://www.watermelonfestivalfl.com/ - National Watermelon Promotion Board
http://www.watermelon.org/ - USATF course certification map of the Monticello Melon Run 5K
http://www.usatf.org/events/courses/maps/showMap.asp?courseID=FL06044DL
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