Christopher C. Crutcher was born on July 17, 1946 in the logging and lumber camp of Cascade, Idaho, which he transformed into Trout, Idaho in Running Loose. Because he attended a small high school, he participated in most major sports, including football, basketball, and track. Like Louie Banks of Running Loose, Crutcher's father was also the chairman of the school committee.

Crutcher attended Washington State College, majoring in sociology and psychology. While in college, he swam competitively, experiencing a week of endurance training like the swimmers in Stotan! After graduating in 1968, Crutcher became a teacher and the director at an alternative school in Oakland, California, a setting which he use d in The Crazy Horse Electric Game (1987). While in California, he took a writing workshop to provide himself with a creative outlet. At the suggestion of a writer friend, he expanded a short story into Running...