Photos are here: Photos are here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/2bRiNqiwySibRAdu8
Before The Start: My 46th race of 2026 was the Watermelon Dash held on August 9th at Mission County Park. Each of the events include a 5K; a 10K; and a kid’s run. This event is part of a series of races put on by Houston Run Company: The Lemonade Dash; The Popsicle Dash; and the Watermelon Dash being the last one, all held at Mission County Park. I did the 5K for all 3 of them. For this 5K, there were 121 finishers per results posted on RunSignUp. Not sure how many participants did the 10K. I arrived pretty early – around 5:30 a.m, and some of my friends were there even earlier – so found pretty good parking, and we all waiting for race-day packet pickup to be opened. After I got my packet, I got my bib on and then went and chatted with a few of the Park Police law enforcement officers there, that I had met at previous events. Because I do so many races, I am running out of drawer space for running shirts; so, like I now usually do, I got a Youth Medium Shirt. I asked the officers if they had any kids or grandkids, and one did have a grandson; so, since he was working the event, I gave him my Youth Medium shirt to give to his grandson. After that, wandered around some more getting a few more pre-start photos, and before I knew it, it was time to start.
On The Course: Both the 5K and 10K had a start time of 7:30 a.m. and started together. The temperature at start time 7:30 a.m. start time was 78 degrees, with around 87% humity and just about no cloud cover, althouh we did have some short shade spots along the course, and also went under several overpass bridges that gave us bried moments of shade. The river was on our right on the way to the turn-round, and on our left coming back. Both events were out and back, with the 5K doing one loop and the 10K doing 2 loops. I never got this about the 10K folks doing 2 loops, as the turn-round was a bridge along the course – the usual turn-round for 5Ks done on this course. I think the 10K folks proably could have crosssed the bridge and then gone to the a turn-round on the other side and then they would have had to do only 1 loop also; but it is what it is. I did my usual thing of 8-minutes-running/2-minutes walking and got some on-course photos during my walk breaks. The only flat parts of the course was from the start line area up to where we exited the park and went onto the Riverwalk; and a short part of the course just before we got to the turn-round sign. The longest hills on the course were the ones that took us up to the course water-station, and then down a long hill as we headed for the turn-round. After the turn-round, we then did these hills in reverse, and it was quite a climb back up to the water station. I had done a 5K at The Rim in San Antonio, the day before this one and that one was VERY hilly, even more hills than this event so, feeling those hills a bit as I went along, I also took a few very short walk breaks on the way back – mabye 30 seconds or so, as well as my garmin-notice walk breaks, and also stopped very briefly to get a couple more photos. My last mile was just about all. After the start, since we came downhill to get onto the Riverwalk that meant, of course, after all those hills we had to climb one last hill before getting back into the park and then going to the finish line. I ended up with a chip time of 48:57, averaging 15:44 per mile, and my last mile was a negative split, 3 minutes faster than my mile 2 time. I ended up first in my age group – I think I was the only one in my age group, lol – so not only got a finisher medal, I also got a nice ribbon and medal for being first in my age group.
After My Finish: I got a few more photos of some other finishers coming in, and then headed to Rover – the name of my SUV, lol – to sit in my car with the air-conditioning blowing full blast. As I was getting ready to wind down a bit, a guy with TV camera came over and asked if he could interview me; sure, why not; so we had a question-and-answer session; very nice guy. I did not realize until later that night, after I got home this was a camera guy from KENS-TV and I saw myself on the eventing news for all of about a minute or so, lol. There were 2 other participants in that segment too; one lady in a wheel chair whom I had met at previous events and I was sitting nearby when Camera Guy interviewed her; she did really well; and the 3rd guy on camera I did not know. That was pretty cool, beiing on TV…my 30 seconds of fame, lol. After that, I did sit in Rover with the a/c on full blast while I cooled down and got rehydrated with some iced-down gatorade and water I had brought with me. Ahh, felt much better. After that I began wandering around, getting some more after-photos and sampling some of the post-race goodies that vendors/sponsors were offering. This one group of ladies had this really tasty electrolyte drink, and they gave you a sampling of it in a very small paper cup. I told them I wanted more than that, lol. They told me finish the water in my water bottle – which I did – and then they filled up my bottle with this drink and I drank that on the way home; now I can’t remember the name of the stuff, but dang, it sure is good. There was an awards ceremony with awards given to the top 3 overall male and female finishers, and the top 3 masters overall male and female. You could also check with a vounteer to see where you placed in your age group and if you were first, you got another ribbon that had printed on it “Age Group Winner” and also had a small ‘watermelon character’ medal on it; so I came home with two ribbons and two medals. I think I was the only one in my age goup, lol.
Epilogue: This series of races is well-done – and kind of like Andiamo races, as they are all held at Mission County Park, with a hilly course. Even so, Mission County Park is a very nice facility with two pavilions, indoor restrooms, and lots of shady area to relax in before and after the event. I will most likely do this series of events again next year, and I would recommend them to others. Mucho thanks to all who made this one happen for we participants; the race company folks that put up the start/finish line area and did the timing; the EMT medics out there for us if needed; all the many volunteeers who did packet pickup, course marshalling, water station duty, and more; the Park Police officers out there for us; all the vendors/sponsors who helped pay for everything and offered some nice pre-and-post race goodies, including beer; The race medal and ribbon, as well as the age-group medal and ribbon for those who placed first in his/her age group are also nicely done; also kudos to our MC who did a great job for us; and to the lady who led the pre-start warmup – which I only watched, lol; I’d probably pull something, lol, trying to do those exercises, so I just “saved my body parts” for the race itself. If you are interested in doing this series of events in the future, here is the company link: https://houstonrunning.co/series/summer-dash-series/ I tend to do a lot of races over the years – although my friends, Ralph and Woody have done even more races this year than I have; yes, each of us are a little bit crazy, but we sure enjoy ourselves.
Whatever your passion is, may you always enjoy it safely and have much success. If you’re a fellow runner/race participant and see me at an event, give me a shout-out; love chatting with my fellow runners, and if you are so inclined, we can get a photo together for my race report I do for each of my events I sign up for. Stay safe, stay happy, and enjoy what you do. Cheers.
Scottydog Reports 