Could there be anything better calculated to appeal to kids than a mud run?

Today’s certainly brought them out, despite the drizzly 10-degree weather.

The question is, why?

It can’t be for the muck in your eyes, nose and ears. There were plenty of kids spitting mud throughout the course, and wiping it from their eyes with filthy hands.

It can’t be for the chance to get hypothermia. Even after a 5k run, at least a third of the kids hit the finish line shivering.

It can’t be for the smell. The reek of swamp at the finish line was enough to make me take my photos with a zoom lens, rather than get too close.

It must be for the fun of doing something they’re not ‘supposed’ to do—get so thoroughly filthy they need to be hosed off, even before a shower. Add the silly costumes most of them wore, the requirement that they enter in teams, and a chocolate bar at the end, and it’s a winning combination.

For my part, I was happy to stand on the sidelines today in my hat, scarf and gloves. Maybe a summertime mud run, ending at the beach—that I could go for.