running?

a sunday morning not long ago i woke at 7:30 am to the sound of a woman wildy cheering people on. interesting i thought and then forgot about it until she started cheering again. and again. so i went outside holding a copy of coffee and took an excellent seat for watching the eugene marathon. my front door was near the 10 mile marker so i could see both the 1/2 marathon runners and the full marathon runners. and i had some friends and some acquaintances go by and wave as i stood there. and i began to wonder why. why would you do that. why would you run over 26 miles. we don't have to run to carry messages any more. running melos is long gone. there are some villages in the world that still use runners but not here. my brother used to run because is was boring and he was constantly working under pressure as a speech writer. but he didn't have to run over 26 miles to bore himself.
could be the endorphines, could be the habit, could be the challenge, could be the mental state it induces. but i am still not sure i get it so i suspect it is one of those things that you have to do to understand.