It is probably safe to say that when most attorneys have a few days off, they consider a relaxing vacation on an island somewhere, maybe a cruise, kicking back at a quiet retreat, or perhaps going sightseeing in a city they’ve never been to before.
With a few days off on a recent weekend, Monique Parker is in her car on the way to the Appalachian Trail and Georgia’s Blood Mountain Wilderness Area. Not for a nice casual hike in the woods, but to train for a grueling five-day, five-stage 230-kilometer marathon in the jungle.
In late May, Parker will be competing for the third time in the Beyond the Ultimate Jungle Ultra, which takes place in Peru’s Amazon. No stranger to these types of challenges, Parker previously competed twice in the Spartan Ultra Beast World Championship 24-hour Obstacle Race in Iceland, as well as other competitive competitions.
The Clearwater attorney points out that Pinellas County, with its flat land and limited woods, is not the ideal place to train for a jungle race.
“The Appalachian Trail is the closest I can get to mountain training,” Parker said while her husband, Trey Grantz, is in the driver’s seat. “There are actual woods, real trails — some as close to a jungle environment as you can get.”
It’s been two years since she last competed in this upcoming race, which covers about 143 miles. She is looking forward to another go at it.
“The jungle race has consumed my life since 2019 or so,” said Parker, who has lived in Florida since attending law school here in 2000.
She was hoping to compete in the 2020 race but COVID hit. In 2022, Parker’s quest to the finish line ended with a serious injury during the second stage when she fell and a gash opened up on her leg. “I was devasted. It was very emotional. I was super sick,” she remembers. “It was a rough night.”
The second time she entered the Peru race, in 2024, Parker finished — last, adding proudly, “I finished!”
What does the race entail?
“You run as much as you can,” Parker, a founding member of the law firm Rabin Parker Gurley P.A., said. “But it is the jungle. There are river crossings, sometimes you’ve got to crawl, swim if you need to, go through mud, climb over trees, whatever it takes.”
Oh, and by the way, Parker is certainly not your typical grandmother. Yes, you read that right. Not yet eligible for a senior community, she says with a chuckle, but a grandmother none the less. Between Trey and herself, they have five adult children and four grandchildren, with a fifth arriving sometime this May.
Parker, whose background includes a stint in the United States Army and working as a football coach at Indian Rocks Christian School, had her hunger for competition start innocently enough in 2013. After his football playing days at Seminole High School and later East Carolina University, her son Jaxon suggested to his mom that they should take part in a 5k Zombie Run that he was doing with a few of his friends.
“I wasn’t a runner but I am adventurous so I said, ‘let’s do it,’” said Parker. “That was the start. It got to a point I wanted to do more and more of it. I entered the Spartan Ultra Beast World Championship in Iceland in 2017 and 2018. As time went on I wondered what’s the most epic challenge out there. One thing led to another.”
Her husband admits he wasn’t fully on board.
“I was with her through Iceland,” Grantz said. “I thought the Amazon thing was crazy. I didn’t want her to go. It’s the appetite in her. I support her and anything I can do to help her to be the best person she wants to be I am there.”
In the passenger seat, Parker cracks, “He thinks I am off my rocker!” And they both laugh. She adds most appreciatively, “I am very, very blessed that he is supportive of me.”
Parker grew up in Massachusetts where she says there were tons of woods and exploring to do in the wilderness which she couldn’t get enough of, intimating that this might be a part of her lure to doing the jungle races. Even when she is not training for a specific race, Parker works hard to stay in shape. Seven days a week, running on the Pinellas Trail, CrossFit, up to five hours of training on a weekend day. Leading up to a race she can amass as many as 20 hours’ worth of workouts in a week — in between her job as a lawyer.
“I am pounding the pavement,” she said. “Day to day, it can suck. Very grueling sometimes.”
Parker is assisted in much of her training with Born to Run coach Eric Orton. “He’s amazing, incredible.”
Beyond the competition itself, Parker, who hopes to someday write a book about her life and the journeys one goes through, acknowledged that her quest to challenge herself has another meaning.
“I always felt a deep seated need to succeed and it was never enough,” she said. “There was that inner voice saying that I might fail. I wanted to prove that voice wrong. I have. I realize now that it’s the journey that counts. Find out what your passion is and enjoy the process. That’s what I want to tell people. Don’t worry so much about the finish line. Let go of that.”
So what’s on her “to-do” list for the future?
“A part of me says the jungle is the hardest and then call it a day. But there’s also other global races and the Ultra Marathon in Kenya, a benefit for Save the Rhino and in support of Rangers,” she suggested as her husband lets out a quiet groan in the background.
First though, is the Jungle Marathon Ultra in Peru.
“I am excited to go back,” Parker said. “I may be last again but if I can cross that finish line that would be great!”
As Parker says, it’s the journey that counts.