When I saw him come into the mile 45 aid station at Badger Mountain he was ahead of schedule just as he had been all day. There was some dried blood on his hand and some fresh stuff still running down his right knee but he had a pleasant demeanor as he calmly stepped off the trail up towards us. When approached by the cheerful Squirrel’s Nut Butter team at the Badger Mountain Aid perched atop a juniper covered hillside overlooking Granite Mountain and most of Prescott, Arizona he politely asked if we had a cup. He was hoping for a drink of water. “I lost my water bottle off a cliff back there. Took …
