Why do kids run away?

Why do kids runaway?  I google'd this, and the first website I looked at, the first reason it stated was that kids run away because of alcohol and drug abuse.  I find this to be some silly propaganda from a hidden agenda website.  http://www.empoweringparents.com/Runaway-Teens-Why-They-Do-It-and-How-to-Stop-Them.php#  When I was growing up, I ran away several times.  I even remember literally running away from my house at the age of 3 or 4 to avoid going to church.  I just ran down the street to a friend's house and my parents found me within minutes.  I think her mom called up my parents right away if I remember correctly.  In my early teens, (14-15) I ran away several times.  Usually for a day or two at a time.  I often would sneak out my window at night, not intending to come home for days, but after trying to sleep in someone's yard a few miles away under a tree hidden away, and getting bit by mosquitos and rained on, I would come back home within hours and no one would even notice I was gone.  The longest was probably was only 2 or 3 days.  I was a mallrat, and I took the bus to my mallrat friend's house and I recall the next day I was at MOA again, and I felt like my dad was around, and when I looked to the left, there he was.  It was odd, this exact incident happened a few times, where I felt my dad's presence and then I would see him a few seconds later.  But I don't think much more of it, but odd intuition.  That particular day, I had a good idea that my parents were concerned about me and looking for me, so maybe not so odd that day.   ANYWAYS, the reason I would run away I would simply chalk it up to TEENAGE ANGST.  I had quite a bit of it growing up.  I would get mad and run away just because I was angry.  Sometimes I just wanted to see my friends, I used to sneak out my window and hang out with my best friend at the time who lived on the other side of Apple Valley, whose mom worked nights so it was a hangout spot for kids in the middle night.  So I would sneak out and walk through Alimagnet Park, which is all woods.  (In retrospect, I have now developed a fear of walking through the woods in the middle of the night, maybe I always had it, but ignored it because the fear of getting caught by cops for curfew walking down sidewalks was bigger.)  I would not consider that running away because my intention was to get home before sunrise.  Of course this made for a lot of sleeping in school the next day.