You might not think it would be, but October is a busy month for the National Watermelon Promotion Board. The flurry of activity was capped off this past weekend with the annual Marine Corps Marathon in Arlington, Virginia.
The Marine Corps Marathon was created in 1976. With 30,000 runners from all 50 states and more than 50 countries, it’s the fifth largest marathon in the nation and the ninth largest in the world (it’s the largest marathon that doesn’t offer prize money).
Below are some photos of “Team Watermelon” in action at this year’s marathon. From what I’ve heard, they were all pretty worn out after the long day in Arlington, but that’s probably nothing compared to the exhaustion that was felt by the people who actually ran the 26.2 mile course!
The watermelon queens pose with a fan at the watermelon booth.
The queens pitched in to hand out watermelon to hungry runners and hungry runner-watchers during the Kids’ Run.
Of course, there were plenty of Marines on hand at the Marine Corps Marathon, and a few of America’s bravest helped us unload a shipment of watermelon samples which would be given away during the event.
The National Watermelon Promotion’s Board’s very own J. Slice stopped by during the Kid’s Fun Run to cheer on the pint-sized runners.
Monica (left) from “Run, Eat, Repeat” (remember my interview with her?) stopped by the watermelon sampling table with her friend Steve (right). That’s Stephanie from the National Watermelon Promotion Board in the middle. I’m officially jealous of her “Fueled by Watermelon” T-shirt.
If you’ve just run 26.2 miles, some juice watermelon chunks might make a nice snack, right? That’s why this table is loaded with watermelon samples. And all those boxes in the background (including many more boxes you can’t see) are filled with more samples. One race participant wrote on Facebook that the watermelon was “the best food item I have ever had after a race.”
How many samples were given away during the event? According to one very tired member of the National Watermelon Promotion Board team, about 48,000!
The official mascot of the United State Marine Corps is Chesty the bulldog. He’s a pretty big deal and has lots of fans. He’s also a watermelon lover. Here he is enjoying a snack before heading off on an important Marine Corps mascot mission.