Early on in my caching history I noticed that people with big find numbers seemed to garner a lot of respect from their fellow cachers. On our discussion forums, one of the most popular areas for comments is the milestone section. I don't comment in that section much anymore, in part because as much as I like numbers, I don't particularly want to feed the "obsession" in others.
That being said, I didn't feel that way early on. Early on I wanted BIG numbers! When I found out there was a leaderboard that allowed me and others to see where we "ranked" in the world of megafinds, I was off to the races. Around the time I hit 500 finds, I paid attention to the fact the two other cachers, Chibongo and BigDaddyD were around the same point as I was and I created in my mind a friendly competition to see who would reach 1K first. For a while, we three stayed pretty close in the "race" but at some point BigDaddyD leapt ahead and did a good job of staying far enough ahead that he won the race. After that, I had tried to stay roughly 100 or so finds above Chibongo and did so almost to the end. The day I logged my 900th find I noticed she was on a tear and ended up leaving me choking in the dust. I had read her logs as I have read many others and realized that she had gotten together with Yogi and Dolphin for some mega-caching! Cool, I thought! Why didn't I think of doing that?! I edged closer to 1K and when I reached 930 finds I couldn't stand it anymore and made a three-day run to Florence, AL and finished my race. I had two big runs shortly after that - caching with friends, but was glad when my obsession with big numbers faded. Now I just have fun! My fellow "competitors" are doing well, too. Both are closing in on 2K finds and I no longer feel the need to race.
Every once in a while, I hear talk of who will be the next to reach 1K finds and who is close behind and it makes me smile. Friendly competition is one of the many reasons I enjoy geocaching!
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