Got privilege?

I've taken up marathon running in the past few years, and I've built up to logging over 75 miles a week. I never got into the habit of running with music -- so it's just the pavement and me out there for a couple hours.\nPeople frequently ask me "Without music, what do you think about? How do you stay focused on the run without getting bored?" (Their tone often suggests that the real question is "...without going crazy?")\nRunning tends to put me into a meditative state, in which my mind is just open and I have innumerable thoughts fleeting through my head. I know that things such as grocery lists, thoughts about my dissertation or plans for my future zip through my mind -- but the specifics are always a little fuzzy. Were someone to request that I fill a journal with "running thoughts" after every run, I'd have a very hard time meeting the request ... with one exception.\nPerhaps it's the focus of my research (race, racism and white privilege), or perhaps it's my past involvement with social justice education efforts, but the thought that I can't seem to shake or forget is: "I'm in a very privileged position to be able to run marathons for leisure and competition."\nI can afford running shoes, clothes, race entry fees and the occasional travel without having to worry I'll be short for rent, electricity or food. For that matter, I can afford to purchase vastly larger amounts of food than I did (or ever needed) before I started running.\nI have the privilege of being in the fairly flexible world of higher-education, where I can set my own hours for research and reading and make sure I have time to squeeze in runs.\nIn the years since I've started running, I've also had the advantage of having a few friends who are in similar life situations as I am (that is, fairly privileged) who, therefore, have also been able to take up a fairly demanding leisure sport. I've benefited from their advice and suggestions along the way.\nAnd economic privilege (which I claim, even with an extremely meager bank account balance and "net worth"), my path into advanced degrees in higher education and ability to network, are all closely linked to the privilege of being white or male. And, obviously, to be able to run marathons at all, one has to consider the privilege of being able-bodied and in good health (conditions which are also linked in explicit and subtle ways to whiteness and economic privilege).\nThese thoughts are not motivated by some paternalistic, pity-party attitude that makes me feel bad for the "less fortunate;" rather, I use these reflections as motivation for the work and activism I'm committed to. I seek insights as to what privileges I can resist or challenge in order to achieve a little more equity and justice.\nRunning alone might not change the world ... but it gives me some perspective on what I can do for my part.