A week ago Steve Stoyles and I ended up running the Sound to Narrows 12K (S2N12K) course together. Many other Y-Run Club members were also running the course with aspirations of doing well at the annual gut-check event that's coming up the second week of June. The course winds down through Pt. Defiance Park which is also the location of the Tacoma Zoo. As Steve and I ran toward the zoo we heard the monkey's hooting and hollering. When we got closer I started yelling back at them. Steve joined in and before we knew it we had all the monkey's calling back to us.
Fast forward to Thursday evening last week at our post-run coffee. Michelle was throwing around names for a marathon distance training run she is trying to put together. Steve suggested a name with the word Monkey in it but it was met with opposition. While we couldn't convince anyone to use the word monkey in the runs name it captured Steve's and my imaginations.
I picked up Steve at 5:30AM on Saturday to head out for our 12 Summits run on Tiger Mountain. It was soon apparent through our conversations and our loud monkey calls in the car that our theme for the day would be "Mad Monkey Runners".
The Mad Monkey Runners got their start at about 6:45AM after dropping our supplies at the turn. Steve had only run 12 Summits once before last year and was looking forward to this run. We paced ourselves early by falling into power hike or "Monkey Motion" mode on some of the early hills that are runnable in the beginning miles. As we climbed the Nook and Section Line trails that seem to go straight up Steve busted into total Mad Monkey mode. Our run pretty much went like this for the next 33 miles or so. Check out my yellow bug eyes!
The pictures below prove that we morphed into Mad Monkey Runners with 10 times the strength of a human. The bottom picture is an attempt to show the grade on Section Line trail. It really does not look so bad in the picture.
We ran into Scott Jurek on the trail at the South trailhead of the Preston Railroad grade and chatted for a couple of minutes. We also ran into Brian Morrison near Zeig's Zag on the TMT. Both of these running icons had a couple of runners with them doing limited mileage training runs. Jurek was bummed that the sun wasn't shining so he could work on his tan.
The Mad Monkey's would yell jump around and make monkey hoots and screams as we made each summit. On our way back from the turn we made it up the monster climb on Middle Tiger and let out our monkey calls. As we headed down the other side we met a couple hiking up. They had heard our mad monkey calls and actually told us it sounded like a bunch of monkeys! They both had big smiles on their faces and seemed to understand to our monkey madness summit celebration.
The Mad Monkey's fueled well, hydrated well, and took our S-Caps on an hourly basis. We didn't monkey around when it came to the important stuff. This coupled with our early diligence with our "Monkey Motion" forward progress allowed us to finish strong on the last three miles of the "Highway" trail down from T3. Oh and bears must be afraid of monkeys because we didn't see any.
I followed my own advice and took a 20min ice bath when I got home. My legs feel great today! This was a back to back 12 summit week for me and back to back 50K distance for Steve as well. Our time for the 34 miles with 10,500 feet of climbing was 8:32. Not far off last weeks effort.
Enjoy your runs and don't be a bad monkey!
21 comments:
what a hoot! I think you probably scared Sasquatch off.
I am not sure about all this monkey business. With my diet lately I feel more like a Gorilla.
seriously, you should stop monkeying around and get some real running in.
Wow - well done! Glad to hear you and Steve are having so much damn fun out there. What are you guys on anyway? Will you share? :)
I'm so glad you rescued stray cars out there from those falling trees! What brute strength you two have, although, MM1 (aka stoyles) looks like he only had to use one arm. Looks like you better hit the weight room to keep up! ;-)
Hilarious! Thanks for the heavy lifting trail work.
Hmmm....you definitely need to start a club or a race or something, because the Mad Monkey 12 Summit Run has a ring to it!! I quite like the idea of a Mad Monkey Club or the Mad Monkey Ultra. Sign me up!
Note: Keep working on your mad monkey noises because this is exactly the type of thing we do here to avoid the dreaded G-Bear encounter, the louder the monkey calls the better! Plus, G-bears don't know monkey-speak, so they don't feel obligated to reply...
Laura - I think we scared of some hikers with our luny fun.
Rob - One word: FOMO
Scott - Looks like the snows melting on your Mt. If you can't have fun why bother lacing up the trail shoes?
Michelle - Just living life while we have the opportunity.
Wendy - Yeah that Stoyles dude is all buffed out. But I have those cool yellow spider eyes!
Adam - You remind me that at the turn there was horseman's club doing trail maintenance. They were using mules and pack horses to haul gravel from the trailhead up to a very muddy section they were repairing. While Steve and I were eating and stocking up for the second half of our run a couple of the mules spooked and then one of the pack horses bolted off up into the woods. Steve got so excited he pissed himself, or maybe he spilled the backpack bladder he was filling all over himself as he started thinking about the need to avoid a charging mule.
Trail Trash - So how do I make myself sound like a really bad ass mad monkey? And not to worry, Steve and I plotted an event. You don't want to miss it. It will be a must have race shirt! Details to follow in a future blog.
Eric, you're so funny! I loved the video! What name did Michelle pick for her run?
Dori - Hi Rock and Roll girl! The Marathon will be called "Michelle's Grande Ass Marathon". It will be run using a Fat Ass format (free, no support). The hook is that it will start at a Starbucks in Puyallup and then go point to point to another 5 Starbucks along the route into Tacoma. The run will take the runners to four cities along the way and you will end up on the waterfront in Tacoma at a Starbucks! We are after all coffee drinkers with a running problem. Check Michelle's Blog for the link! I'm going to mark the course and mother hen the event so I don't have it on my upcoming races.
Cheers!
Monkey see, Monkey do! Seems to be the case with you ywo yahoos. :)
Meghan
Wait, I forgot to say that 10,500 feet of climb in 34 miles in 8:32 is killer. Awesome.
Hee hee...funny post...too bad you had to ruin it with all that real-runner mumbo jumbo! :)
I think that Steve made more sense in that video than he did in his lively attempts to keep me motivated on the JWT. ha ha.
Can I join the Mad Monkeys club? I've been told that I have abnormally long arms that hang to the ground, if that counts for anything.
So on a real-runner note... congrats on getting in 12 summits. Death Race should be easy now.
What fun! Sounds like those long runs might be starting to affect your minds. ;)
By the way, how's that weight loss you spoke of on my blog coming along? Hopefully well! And that experimental thing you mentioned. . . true or false?
Meghan - As you can see when Steve and I get together it's like the monkeys have escaped from the zoo. I'm sure that had you been with us you would have been swinging from branches and screaming a few monkey shouts yourself.
Have you ever noticed that if you took the eghan out of your name and replaced it with onkey it would spell monkey? With a name like that I think you should join our Mad Monkey club.
Shawn - Hell yes you can join! Simply submit your video of you running and acting like a mad monkey and you are in! (Yes, I make this stuff up as I type). I may be scaling back my 36 summit effort to 24. More to come on that with my blog.
Annette - The fact that you even considered that Steve and I actually have minds was a back handed compliment that we will cherish forever. As far as the weight loss goes I'm seeing some improvement. Summer running always allows me to drop some poundage.
You dudes are crazy...but we already knew that:) Now you are Monkeys on top of it! Where will it eventually lead you, scary to even imagine...
Olga - Steve and I seem to be able to imagine an inconcievable amount of crazy thoughts and scenarios. We bring out the best in one another. I can tell that you want to be a Mad Monkey too! Don't try to hide it. Just accept your inner monkey and be free!
that's some great training dude. your blog cracks me up all the time.
i think i found a
good candidate for race director on your monkey runs...
You sure know how to make things FUN!! Mad Monkey Run... LOVE IT.
20 minute ice bath... I think I can only make just over 10 minutes. I know... I know... it is all mental :)
Tom - Glad to keep you entertained bud! You gotta be pretty pumped about WS about now. You will rock!
Scott - Do you think we could get non-profit status if we incorporated a religious shrine as the RD? I like the way you think!
Robin - The trick to making it 20 minutes is to wear one of those wheat husk filled neck warmer dealys you heat up in the microwave on your neck and a stocking cap. Not the best look in the world but it keeps you warm enough to in the first few minutes to let your legs go numb.
I talk tough but when I should have soaked last night I skipped . My excuse was that it was too late by the time we got home. I'd be feeling a lot better today had I done it.
Thanks all for your comments!
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