Paying to be tortured

Torture is in, at least that's what many believe if you are into Fifty Shades of Grey, however I have yet to explain to myself why I pay for the ultimate form of torture (Didn't the fabulous Anastasia get "paid" for forms of abuse?!?) - running and not just any running; the running where you have to cross water, crawl through mud, and leap fire. Who in the hell came up with this concept?!? because I am sure as hell not running to finish in any timely fashion and surely not running to win a medal - my only goals include not having a heart attack and crossing the finish line under my own power (not on a stretcher); everything else is just icing on the cake. Couldn't I accomplish the same set of goals stranding myself in the woods somewhere with an IPod thumping some kickass screamo and running for approximately three miles?
I have determined that people who talk about their "runner's high" are actually just delirious - it is the same type of delirium as when you are stranded at sea with no fresh water for 7 days. I have never found my "runner's high"; I have only found that I become more creative with my profanity the further I run and the more tired I get - perhaps this is my version of a "runner's high"?
Nevertheless, I have once again signed up to run this race in about 8 weeks and amazingly it keeps me coming back. I am not sure if it is the amazing T-shirt (aren't these sold on the website?), the factor I get to play in the mud (couldn't I just make a mud pie in my own backyard?), the free beer (which I don't actually drink), or the factor that I actually cross the finish line, but I will be leaping fire with the help of some of my friends once again this year just after turning 30.
No matter what, there is something that will keep you coming back - find your "something" and go for it. As once said, "Don't let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game." This is our game and sometimes we don't get off the bench because we aren't pretty enough, thin enough, brave enough, extroverted enough, young enough, athletic enough, smart enough... We are enough - make it happen.