I did a mud race over the weekend. I've heard there are lots of these races, where you run a bit, jump in the mud, run some more, cross some monkey bars, crawl through a tunnel, do some more obstacles, and then run some more. It was a ton of fun.
The entry fee for the race was substantial and the drive to get there was kind of long. As a student, these things are on my mind. And it reminded me of a conversation I've had before with some runner friends about the point of paying for entry into a road race. The question is why you'd pay to run a 5K when you could easily head out the door and do a 5K for free every day of the week. Of course there are plenty of reasons to want to do an organized race. But the point transfers to this mud race. Why pay to go out and get wet and muddy and put yourself through the discomfort at all?
Clearly, the point to doing it is the spectacle of doing something this out of the ordinary. It was doing it for the challenge, it was something so over-the-top that one wouldn't ever do it otherwise, and it was a great event to do with a bunch of friends.