Starting at 7 a.m. this Sunday, thousands of runners will dominate the streets of St. Louis for the city’s annual marathon. More than 20,000 people are anticipated to participate this year in what is becoming one of the largest growing races in the United States.

It’s a strange phenomenon when you think about it. Thousands of people are willing to force their bodies to run 26.2 miles. As commendable and impressive as that sounds, it also seems a bit silly.

What is the point after all?

Back in January, I seriously pondered running a marathon for the first time.

So I thought about if for probably 20 minutes, weighing the positives and the negatives. Before I knew it, I had filled out my credit card information and was ready to register for the St. Louis Marathon.

Looking back, $90 for 26.2 miles doesn’t seem like an even tradeoff. As I clicked to confirm the payment, I felt like Ron Burgundy after he jumped into the bear pit to save Veronica Corningstone (“I immediately regret this decision!”).

What was I getting myself into? April 19 seemed like such a long time away when I foolishly signed up for the St. Louis Marathon. Now it’s only three days away.

From a physical standpoint, I think I’m as ready as I could have hoped to be. I didn’t always follow my training schedule, but, overall, I made a solid effort. Mentally, however, I’m not so sure I am programmed to handle the rigors of running for (probably) more than three hours and having nothing to do but think. And think. (If you have any suggestions for me, by the way, [email protected] beckons).

Again, it makes me question the purpose of running a marathon. So why did I decide to do it?

Well, I found myself asking the same question while I ran cross country and track during high school. The only competitive sport I participated in for four years involved nothing but extreme discomfort. It’s a lot easier to have fun when you are playing soccer or basketball.

But even though I would often dread the prospect of racing, quitting never even crossed my mind. This was in part due to the friendships I developed with my teammates and coaches, certainly. But racing long distances has its own romantic appeal as well.

Racing is the oldest form of human competition . and even though I made that up, there has to be at least a little bit of truth in such a claim.

It’s definitely the easiest way to determine athletic ability. There are no judges and no regulations. Racing isn’t confined, like other sports, to the subjective decisions of biased humans. There are no bad umpires and a referee can’t taint the outcome of a race. In that sense, it is the purest form of competition.

Another unique aspect of distance running is the sense of accomplishment that goes with it. You have to overcome not only your opponents, but the advice of your own body, which constantly tells you to slow down.

Also, distance running is a sport of poetic justice. More often than not, those that work the hardest are rewarded. Committed training can overcome huge talent discrepancies, and it happens all the time.

I wasn’t necessarily considering all of these factors when I made the choice to run the St. Louis Marathon.

It was an instinctive decision-and I don’t really regret it.

But I still can’t wait for it to be over.