Some activities in modern middle class life seem like they'd be difficult to explain to someone who lives on the other side of the globe, or even someone who lived 50 or 100 years ago.  Case in point is last weekend's mud run.  I'm trying to envision explaining to a poor, dirt-covered villager the idea of running (willingly) through mud (for fun) while climbing over obstacles (for no purpose) while also paying a large amount of money to do so.  In what universe does that make sense? 

It's similar with camping:  Let's go trudge through the woods with heavy equipment and crappy food in our bag, then sleep on the hard ground while trying not to catch an insect-borne disease. 

Or apple-picking:  Instead of buying moderately-priced apples from one of many local stores, let's go walk around a muddy farm, pick the apples ourselves, try to avoid yellow jackets, then pay several times more than they're worth simply for the experience. 

Sometimes it seems like we've removed most of life's major obstacles and so feel the need to occasionally reintroduce them. #lifestyle