I love books. The old-school, preferably paperback kind of books. And my reads are very rarely an escape from reality... you would be hard pressed to find any fiction on my reading list. I tend to read in order to learn and I like to learn because I am curious. Looking at my reading list is also quite telling... I seem to be most curious about psychology, behavioral economics and the digital evolution/revolution.
A few months back, a co-worker of mine convinced me to join my company's Spartan Race team. He didn't talk it up much: he mentioned it's a long-ish run with a few fun obstacles. You know, no big deal. Something someone who runs as much as me should complete more than easily (read, you don't really need to train for it). Ha ha ha.