Fourteener Fun

So one of the things I have started doing since moving to Colorado is hiking/climbing fourteeners.....something back in 2006 I thought I sort of hated, but I have in some ways really found my pace, allowed myself to go nice and slow and admitted that I am just checking beautiful experiences off of a list. In this particular field or useful interest, I dont want to do them 2 or three times. Maybe I'd do ascents in seasons other than the one I initially completed them in, but mostly I'm happy to have checked them off. Right now I can take full credit for Quandry, Greys, Mt.Bierstadt and Pike's Peak needs a second ascent because I took the train down. That is one that would be nice to do in the summer, on the long route in two parts, camping below tree line. I am becoming more comfortable acknowledging my flaws or areas where I need assistance. For example, it is becoming pretty obvious that it would be safest for me to do some of these routes with a pretty simple GPS...just something to tell me where I am going in terms of cardinal directions, able to download maps ahead and able to track the route I actually did....the last one mostly just because it is really cool. I also went up toward Long's Peak as far as Lady Washington...another one to return to. So what is it I like about these experiences, if what I like isnt being able to do them over and over...and how can I cater them to my personal likes. Could be the camping....taking pictures (no)....meditative walking...accomplishments (in which case a chart or accomplishment tracker would be nice). What I've been realizing about being here, having a grown up job, working night shift etc. is that people really really really need something to look forward to. For some people that is a cigarette at noon, icecream after work, a trip they are saving up for and I'd like to be more conscious about giving myself things to look forward to...at times in my life a run is the thing I'm looking forward to. At the exact moment that is not really the case, but something has to replace it. Getting back in bed cannot be the only thing I'm looking forward to, that's just depressing, but it requires some work on my part to plan trips/research what and how I want to spend my most important time...camping, climbing, fourteeners, hiking, trips around the US or abroad, planned races, weekly meetings, school/classes. When you want to remember that life is precarious, that it is temporary and you choose how to spend your time (only you) get on a fourteener in February, endure the 0 degree tempratures, the 30mph wind, the way it feels to have a layer of ice so heavy on your upper eye lashes that you eye lid becomes frozen shut. Hike until your legs say no fucking way. Smile at all that you have accomplished. Discover what drives you and do it, over and over and over again.