2011 Year In Review
This thing won’t read itself, let’s go!
Race 1: Bridle Trails 10.4 Mile – January 8, 2011
I don’t remember much about this race beyond it being quite nipply and my very early in the race succumbing to what was a relatively low level of fitness. Simultaneously unsurprising yet disheartening. I also remember driving to the race with my chauffeur Patrick behind the wheel of his yuppie mobile, so I probably spent the first few miles of this race smelling like a wet dog. I finished in 6th place, about 40 seconds in front of Trisha Steidl.
Race 2: Soaring Eagle 50k – April 10, 2011
This was the first of what I like to call (to no one in particular until now) the season’s trio of bittersweet races. Sweet because I won, bitter because I am mentally and emotionally horrible at running in sub-prime conditions. Honestly, I’m not big at running in mud, or driving rain, or some combination of the two. It sort of disgusts me and I spend all of the race in my own head, squirming at the dampness in my socks, likely worrying about impending blisters (from said socks), and thinking ahead to what will surely be a revolting change of clothes afterward as I climb into my formerly pristine vehicle as it slowly funkifies to levels not experienced since, well, whenever I was last in Patrick’s car.
This was also my first looped ultra. Three 10 mile loops and a 1.1 miler to certify it all. About 10 seconds after heading out for the second loop, I realized I also wasn’t a huge fan of this type of course. Which is to say I hated it. The swamps I had to traverse for about a couple miles may have played a role in this, but it was such a drag to be going through some horrible swampy stretch for the second time, knowing I’d have to get through it a third time unless I chickened out and DNFed.
Race 3: Capitol Peak 55k – April 30, 2011
I’ve had that cool nightmare a couple times where you get to a race and realize you don’t have everything you need. So I either hide in my car or I run the first few minutes in my Speedos before waking up in a cold sweat. Dreams became a reality at this race, as I opened up my bag at the luxurious whatever-shithole-hotel-I-stayed-at-the-night-before-the-race and found I’d forgotten, of all things, my running shorts. I sat at the foot of the bed, hoping to wake up and realize I’d thankfully brought with me about 4 pairs of shorts, but after 15 miserable minutes I gave up. Luckily I *had* brought my long running pants in case the weather took a turn for the worse, so I wouldn’t be forced to force others to see me in Speedos. Unluckily, the weather was idyllic (for running) and I lost about 10 pounds of water weight during the race solely through my needlessly covered blanket of leg hair.
Despite the ideal weather, I still count this as the 2nd of 3 bittersweet races because for the second straight race I had to drop trou in the middle of everything. I was worried this was a sign of things to come for myself in future distance races, as well as yet another sign of my much-older-than-31-years-old physiological self. Like I was precipitously falling towards someone who should maybe be living in an assisted living facility.
Race 4: Cougar Mtn 8.2 Mile – June 11, 2011
I had to go back and re-read about this race again, I couldn’t recall a thing. Ahh yes, this race was the day after the Fremont 5K. Uli Steidl won both races. Using our respective Cougar times, his Fremont 5K time, and some basic arithmetic, I extrapolate that *my* Fremont 5K equivalent time would be a PR-setting 16:28.
Sure, it’s true he may have been a *smidge* tired from that PM race only 14 hours before, while I was baby-fresh and unraced in over a month. But I think I will head over to my PR page and make that update as soon as I’m done with this post. Assuming I don’t forget.
What’s that, you say? That’s not kosher runner behavior?

Race 5: Taylor Mtn 50k – June 18, 2011
Which brings us to the final of our bittersweet ultra trifecta, which saw us, in June of all months, braving monsoon conditions and swimming across the “ankle deep” creek crossing twice. This was horrible. I ran the ENTIRE race alone and though I won, I didn’t KNOW I won until after crossing the finish line.
Afterward, I stood under one of the few tents, inhaling whatever food I was allowed to inhale. There was pizza, but a “one slice per runner” rule. Totally understandable for the 5 and 10 milers. But enforcing a “one slice!” rule on those of us who spent 4-6 hours out in that dank, urine-soaked hell hole was caloric cock-blocking at its finest. Two other male finishers arrived sometime later and one reached for a second slice. The volunteer manning the tent started explaining the rules, and the moment the 2nd slice guy started with the modest display of surprise, I was sprinting away in the opposite direction.
Race 6: White River 50 Mile – July 30, 2011
I still cannot believe we got to the race start on time after Patrick’s car blew a flat the morning of. I spent most of the ~10-15 minute drive from the blow-out spot to the starting line thinking about how I would either be missing this race altogether or, at best, starting it way after the gun went off. There is no “gun time” and “chip time” at White River. So my (yes yes, very optimistic) goal of sub-8:00 was likely going to face an unhelpful hurdle of having to turn into a sub-7:50 or thereabouts to make up for however late we were going to be. Needless to say, this wasn’t the most positive mindset to find one’s self 5 minutes before a 50 miler.
But we made it. By the skin of our teeth.
It turned out to be insignificant, as I shit the bed to the tune of a 9:01. Even if I was an early-starter, the last sub-8:00 guy would have passed me as we climbed out of Skookum Flats, figuratively farting on me in the process. Perhaps that’s what I should do next time. Not fart on guys, but start an hour early, cross at what everyone *thinks* is somewhere between 7:30-7:59 gun time (8:30-8:59 actual time), and then leave before anyone can actually talk to me, figure out, and announce that I was actually a cowardly early-starter.
Come to think of it though, that would require getting out of bed an hour earlier, so….yeah nevermind.
For those keeping score, and in the market for a new vehicle to avoid, Patrick drives a Prius. And did I mention that it smells like a wet dog?
Race 7: Cougar Mtn 13.7 Mile – August 13, 2011
The big thing here, at my annual first post-White River race, was simply improving. Much is made of meeting certain time goals, or place goals, but I find myself lately (meaning the past couple of years) just rooting for “improvement” in whatever form it comes. Or failing that, just not digressing by large amounts. I obviously didn’t get that wish at White River, but I got that at the notoriously more-difficult-than-it-seems Cougar 13(ish) miler. Like usual I ran most of the race by myself but I found myself much more able to put one foot in front of the other than I did at the same race in 2010 and 2009.
There are moments in this race that rekindle the love of running fast. Short patches of trail where you can really let loose. Like I’m running a 5k or something. After a spring/summer of 50ks and 50 miles I tend to really enjoy these brief reprieves. No one can see me and no one gives a shit and I’m probably only hitting like 7:30/mile pace, but it’s nice now and then to really be RUNNING during a race. To have the heart for once holding up its end of the bargain.
Race 8: St. George Marathon – October 1, 2011
Pretty much every time I’ve described this race to other people (after the fact), I tend to sum it up with some iteration of “so…in conclusion I guess I really recommend downhill races.” Before the race I was terrified of any stretch of downhill. Aside from the merely-8 mile Ski To Sea 2010 (a miraculous success), downhills have seemed to provide me with nothing but sore shins, crushed spirits and internal voices rather rudely demanding I “never do that again.” And St. George is very much downhill. Uli Steidl gave his 2:49 prediction but prefaced it with “if you don’t like downhills, why are you running this race?” A fair question. I suppose I just couldn’t pass up the chance to run with perhaps two of my favorite people (let alone Mormons), Nate and Kristen Ogden. I dropped Nate at 24 and cruised to a 2:46 (friggin’ 1:21 in the second half). Who knows if it was the Paris buffet Thurs night, the race-day company, or incredible training on my part (cough), but these 26.2 miles were among of the easiest I have ever experienced. Nate and I ran with and dropped about 30 separate guys and a couple spunky but over matched babes, nearly all of them in the blistering second half. We were talking conversationally until about mile 22, at which point we continued to converse but with a bit more focus. Looking back I find it hard to believe how relatively “easy” this was.
Then the next day Claire and I hiked Angel’s Landing without any problem. And we ate at fucking Red Lobster (cheesy biscuits are for real) the night after. To this day I don’t know how this all worked out so well. But it might qualify as “Race of My Life” for the time being.
To sum up, run some downhill races if you get the chance!
Race 9: Dawg Dash 5k – October 23, 2011
A bit more down-key, I finally got to run a race with Brett, who mostly to this point had only been doing ridiculously easy 3 mile Fleet Feet store runs with me. I hadn’t run a 5k in over 2 years, and this race, despite its frequent recommendations to get off-course and its less-than-enthusiastic and more-than-pimply course marshalls, was a good time. After a spring and summer of plodding along at 9 minute pace, it was a refreshing change to bust ass for 17 minutes and then be done. I was leading to Brett’s 2nd until about the 2.9 mile mark, at which point some random guy flew by both of us and won, but second place still won me $50 at Super Jock & Jill, and a donation-ready “space blanket,” so it was a nice return to the short fast stuff. I don’t know if it’s this enjoyment I felt or Brett’s real-time company (as I’ve mentioned before, racing WITH people seems to be the exception to the rule for me), or both, but I’d like to see what I can accomplish again at this nausea-inducing distance & speed.
Two+ months later, on New Years Eve, I found myself yet again next to an unfortunate Uli Steidl, who again had to explain his feelings on racing to the bald neophyte across from him. I tend to think of 50Ks and 50 milers as tough yes, but as a distance that at least I can dip my feet into gently, and approach warmly. The pain will come, but I can prepare myself for it as the race develops. In a 5k I’m peeing myself on the starting line and my 180+ heart rate 10 seconds into the race allows for little else than fear. His view is the opposite. The 5K yes has exponentially-increasing heart-rate pressure, a sometimes-horrible mile/dollar cost, and some total turd burglars who wear headbands and shit, but if you’re in a certain shape, you’re in a certain shape, and not much can change that. In a 50 mile…many things can and will go wrong unless you account for the smallest detail. There’s simply too much time to pass (say, ~six and a half hours for the world class Steidl, fucking nine hours for me) to not have *something* come up. In a 5K, you run as hard as you can for 15 minutes and you’re done. If you have a tender stomach, who gives a shit? The race will be over in a few minutes, so suck it up junior. And better yet, the next day you can run again comfortably. So if you see me at a 5K starting line, smelling like urine and talking to myself, I’m either reminding myself of that counterpoint…or I’m talking on my bluetooth that you can’t see.
Race 10: Cougar Mtn 50k – October 30, 2011
And yet here I was back at the 50k distance just one week after the Dawg Dash. I admit I ran this race solely out of loyalty to all things SRC and Scott McCoubrey. I don’t even know if either entity had anything to do with the Cougar 50k, but I remember Scott (or as he likes me to refer to him, “MISTER MCCOUBREY”) talking about a possible 50k on Cougar/Squak Mtn a couple years back, and here it was in its debut glory, so I paid my $ and toed the line (which at a typical Cougar race means “stood around listlessly until the RD says ‘hey you guys can go now.’”). I mean Cougar has some nice trails (consult above races…and prior year races, and think ahead to future races, many of which will be at Cougar) but by the end of October, and the end of a first-ever (and perhaps only-ever) 100 mile week, the last thing my legs wanted to was power hike the shit out of limp up Squak Mtn.
In order to get that glorious third digit on the weekly mileage tally, I simply had to get to around mile 18. By that point though, I was leaving the nightmare of Squak Mtn and there was some old guy chasing me, so I sprinted back through Cougar as fast as I could (probably about a 13 min pace) and held on to 3rd place by the Greg Crowtherest* of margins.
*See, what I’m saying here is Greg is kinda thin.
I would be remiss to not mention, and not appropriately conclude this post with words on how appreciative I am that someone in the Cougar Mtn Series Race Directing family has as strong a taste in Mike & Ike’s as I do. The 43rd thing you can count on at the Cougar Mtn Series is that the post-race spread of food will contain a big bowl full of melting, sticky, delicious Mike & Ike’s. You don’t get Mike & Ike’s at local 5k road races.
Just a Greg Crowther’s width over 2500 miles on the year (and 2500 words here). As someone who merely roots for improvement, I’ll take it.
2011 vs 2010 Month Miles Time Off Dec '11 103 13h02 13 Nov '11 111 13h47 15 Oct '11 200 26h14 14 Sep '11 241 29h32 4 Aug '11 212 26h53 8 Jul '11 306 43h33 6 Jun '11 236 31h04 7 May '11 239 29h56 7 Apr '11 274 36h16 6 Mar '11 226 27h48 9 Feb '11 203 25h51 4 Jan '11 156 19h57 10 -- Dec '10 20 2h37 27 Nov '10 168 20h33 10 Oct '10 241 30h20 6 Sep '10 156 19h51 14 Aug '10 182 23h32 12 Jul '10 285 39h42 8 Jun '10 247 31h34 7 May '10 274 35h08 5 Apr '10 165 20h55 11 Mar '10 226 29h11 9 Feb '10 186 22h48 7 Jan '10 159 20h21 12 -- Totals Miles Time Off so far 2011 2508 323h55 103 2010 2309 296h28 128 -- Daily Miles Time Off Avg 2011 9.6 74m11 -- 2010 9.7 75m03 -- -- Weekly Miles Time Off Avg 2011 48.2 6h14 2.0 2010 44.4 5h42 2.5












