Monkey Business
Screaming Monkey 100 | Ultramarathon #081
Travel
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| Exploring the "monkey trails". |
I booked off the Friday afternoon from work so I could make it out to Northwest Louisiana. I've done this a bunch of times but I always, and I mean always, forget how much extra time I need to allow to drive through or around the outskirts of Houston metropolis that close to a weekend. I left after lunch at home and assumed it would only take me the 4-4.5 hours I had allotted but of course with the Houston area traffic it turned out to be 5+ hours before I'd arrive at the Eddie D Jones Park just outside of Keithville (not too far southwest of Shreveport).
I pitched my little one-man tent near the starting area and then headed out for a quick 2ish mile shakeout run to explore the trail terrain before the sun fully had disappeared behind the tall trees of the park. I ate my make shift dirtbag dinner I had brought for myself and got cozy for the cold night that was slowly descending upon me and the other runners staying in the park.
Saturday, The Race
It was a old night dipping down into the high 30s, which was colder then I was expecting it to be. That made crawling out of my tent much more of a chore as I was bundled nicely under many layers of blankets staying warm. As the closing countdown to the race start was continuing I managed to get out of my tent and get into my running kit. The pre-race meeting was a short blast of information by Michael Puyear, the Race Director. There was not a ton of new information coming at us that was not in the pre-race email briefings except that where we needed to split off from the 100 km runners on our first loop - which was termed the bonus loop.
With that the group of the 100 Mi and the 100 km runners all lined up underneath the starting arch in the 40f morning. I was anxious to get going just so I could warm back up as I opted for my 3" trail shorts right from the start. My legs were feeling the chill off the Texas fall weather. The group took off at a very slow pace out of the parking lot and down towards the gravel road leading us into the woods. I found myself at the front of the pack k by the time we arrived at the first volunteer guiding us to the singletrack into the woods only about 0.2 Mi down from the start line. I was then using my headtorch to guide myself through the misty dark woods while keeping my eyes fixed below me as this trail was full of roots. The first 1.5 Mi was on this twisty turny singletrack that popped us out onto a gravel service road where the aid station was. I passed right by it and follow the straighter equestrian trails for the next 4 Mi which brought us back around to the same aid station. Back into the woods and more singletrack climbing and weaving back up the small hillside we initially descended on.
There was 3 runners not far behind me as I could see there lights as I was weaving through the trails. I came out to a road crossing and this was the "decisive" point where our 100 Mi bonus loop was to take us back to the start, meanwhile the 100 km runners were to continue on and complete the full loop. However, the volunteer watching the road crossing informed me that 100 milers were to go into the woods and 100 km runners down the road. I stopped and questioned him. He insisted that he was correct, even though I thought otherwise. Against my better judgement I followed what he said and crossed the road following the trail further into the woods. Noticing that the trail seemed to be turning away from the starting area and the tall communication tower (and its blinking red lights) where now behind me. I had paid enough attention to notice these aspects of my surroundings and so I stopped and noticed I had run a good 0.25 Mi past the road crossing now. I waited for a minute or so to see if the next runners were coming yet...no footsteps were heard. I made a quick decision to run back to the road crossing as I was confident I as now not going in the correct direction as a 100 Mi runner. Backtracking the quarter mile I arrived at the road where the volunteer standing by the cones was there instructing the next 3 runners exactly what he had told me. They collectively looked at each other and informed him that he had it backwards. And so my decision to come back was smart, not compounding my initial mistake of listening to his initial direction when I thought it was wrong. Two of the runners were of 100 km distance and took off into the woods, and I headed back down the road back towards the camp parking area with a fellow 100 Mi participant. We went along together and chatted briefly as we followed the road back just under a mile or so to the start/finish arch. My fellow runner ducked into the porta-potty for quick bathroom break as I crossed over the mat checking in to complete my bonus loop - just 6 more full loops (15.6 Mi) now lie ahead of me and the finish.
I headed back out by myself as the other runner was still getting aid at his chair. With the sun now creeping up I was able to shed a layer of clothing and took of my headtorch. I then retraced this first 5ish miles before coming back to the road crossing, this time continuing straight across (for sure) and doing the full loop. Back onto new trails was exciting again as I twisted and turned through the woods. This experience is one of the reasons I truly love trail running and don't mind being out there by myself - it makes me feel like as kid again.
The Screaming Monkey 100 is a unique course as it is located with this park (Eddie D Jone Park), with a full system of these mountain bike trails, about 11 miles worth. There is also some equestrian trails as well which we utilized early on in the loops. The park itself is flanked by a veteran's cemetery, an abandoned prison (2nd ultra in a row for me with a prison: see BFC), and a chimpanzee sanctuary. Making my way through the woods descending the trails on the second third of the loop I could here the bell system at the veteran's cemetery that was oddly calming background noise early in the race. Eventually I popped back out of the woods and back onto a service road that lead us down to the abandoned prison. Unfortunately we did not get a full tour (in the prior editions of the race apparently the runners got a small loop with the prison area between the various buildings. This year this was not allowed as they were actively demolishing some of the buildings). The course ran right up to the corner of the property where the buildings started and a guard tower was and then diverted us back into the trees. The course was back near the main camping area but then turned once again taking us back out on the perimeter of the park towards a small lake/swamp/marsh area. Finishing off two thirds of the loop now I arrived at the next aid station.
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| Taken on Friday pre-race as I arrived at the Park. |
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| Screaming Monkey 100 course layout (Photo: STRAVA, OpenStreetMap). The full loop is 15.6 Mi which the 100 Mi does 6 times plus a starting bonus loop of just over 6 Mi to make the mileage equal to 100. The equestrian trails are all the long straight sections. |
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| Old entrance to the abandoned prison. (Photo: Justin Loeb, taken from the SM100 Facebook page) |
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| couple of the buildings in the abandoned prison. (Photo: Justin Loeb, taken from the SM100 Facebook page) |
The last third of the full 15.6 Mi loop was fully on mountain bike singletrack. This would be my favorite section of the course. It was not very fast or flowy since it makes so many turn and twists and abrupt changes in direction, but it was a great trail to run none the less. The ground underfoot was tricky as well and there we numerous roots and the fall leaves on the ground tried to hide some of these. That being said I never did fall or trip this race - always an accomplishment at an ultramarathon.
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| I love singletrack |
I was getting closer to finishing the loop and I could start hearing the chimpanzees (monkeys) starting to make noise. This last portion of the trails took us weaving around behind the sanctuary and around back over towards the camp and the start/finish area. This would be the spot I'd hear the primates basically every loop from then on. It was a true Screaming Monkey experience as you'd hear them randomly in those last few miles of the loop, even in the night hours.
The day light loops for me were quite straightforward as I ticked off the mileage. I ran the entire time by solo except when passing other fellow trail runners out there on course. It was a great day weather wise and I had no complaints.
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| Photo: Justin Loeb |
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| Photo: Justin Loeb |
Heading on to my 4th full loop I knew that I'd be closing out that loop in darkness, so I was smart enough to have my kogalla waistlamp in my pack ready to go. As mentioned it had been uneventful to this point as I kept plotting along. Then as the darkness had engulfed the park and I was heading back with about 2-3 miles to go on the loop I noticed a light coming up behind me. This was the first time someone had come up from behind on me, so I now was caught about 65 Mi into the race. I was passed fairly confidently as I was not moving super well at this point. I tried to hang on to his pace and maintained a consistent 20 second gap for a good long while. Eventually he would pull away further as we twisted, ducked, turned, climbed and descended the never ending turns on the closing miles of singletrack. We'd see each other lights the entire time as we constantly were changing directions with the trail, but I could never know exactly how far back I had dropped back now. Finally the loop ended and I asked the timer how far ahead the guy before was. As he looked at me somewhat puzzled he explained that was the 100 km finisher/winner and had just finished, and not one of my 100 Mi competitors. I had waisted a little bit of energy trying to keep pace with this runner but I think it was a positive in the end since it reminded me to stay vigilant and just keep moving forward. Who knows when I would be caught from behind. Only 2 more full laps to go - a little 50 km run so to speak.
The temperature dropped quite a bit into the wee hours of the morning again, and I choose to keep my 3" trail shorts on instead of opting for my pants. I figured this would motivate me to keep moving forward and not walk too much. My pace on these last 2 loops had mirrored the temperature drop and I could feel my fatigue level slowly creeping up. But I noticed my time on the last loop and I had arbitrarily set my eyes onto a sub-23 time since the next hour was fast approaching. I ran the last few miles at a decent pace and crossed the line in 22:56:33 in 1st place with a wire-to-wire victory.
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| Finisher photo with RD Michael Puyear. |
I got handed my buckle and then proceeded to head directly to my car in the parking lot to dig out my warm clothing I had set aside. I made a quick change into warm dry set and grabbed my chair and one of my warm blankets and plumped myself down beside the bonfire they had going in the middle of camp. I enjoyed a Run Wild Athletic Brewing Co. IPA as I warmed up and relished the feeling of not wearing shoes. The warmth of the fire eventually took me and I fell into a nice snooze in my chair. I had about a nice hour and half nap there by the fire as it was quiet.
I awoke and as daylight began to break the Race Director, Michael, emerged as well. He came over and congratulated me and got me the finisher award plaque for 1st place as well as a Screaming Monkey pint glass with a bonus Trail Toes jar inside. I chatted for a bit, we got our picture taken and then I proceeded to get up and pack up my tent setup and gather the rest of my goodies I still had spread out. My 81st ultramarathon was done, and like many of them before I then proceeded to get ready to drive home right away so I could get home to my wife and kids for the remainder of Sunday.
Thank you to Michael, G.O.A.T.S., and all the volunteers out there.
Results
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| Updated 100 Mi(+) buckle collection (Photo: Katie Meding). |
Gear Used
- Shirts: rabbit LS & SS rabbitELITEtrail team kit
- Shorts: rabbit 3" FKT
- Shoes: HOKA ONE ONE Challenger ATR 7 (test pair)
- Socks: rnnr (rabbit edition)
- Headwear: rabbit (BOCO) rabbitELITEtrail cap & beenie
- Gloves: rabbit (BOCO)
- Sunglasses: goodr
- Watch: Garmin fēnix® 6X - Pro Solar Edition
- Waistlamp: kogalla RA Adventure Light
- Headlamp: Nathan Sports Halo Fire
- Hydration: x2 20oz Nathan soft flasks
- Anti Friction lube: Trail Toes
- Gear Bags: Victory Sportdesign Grizzly backpack and 3 Victory piglet bags utilized as laundry bags
- Cooler: small Coleman including some refreshing Athletic Brewing Co. beers.
Thank you for following along
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Next Up: Franklin Mountain Trail Run (2021-Nov-12 to 14th)
Texas B.M.F. (Last Human Standing) (2021-Nov-19 to t.b.d.)
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