About four years ago, despite decades of actively avoiding the idea, I started running. I am no Forrest Gump, but I run 3.5 miles on a reasonably regular basis– usually four or five times a week, sometimes more, and rarely less.   My primary running locations, North Dakota and then along the Monongahela River in West Virginia, are both quite windy.  The North Dakota winds so are significant, that they can mimic hills, which is what allowed cyclist Andy Hampsten to train for hills in “one of the flattest areas in the world.” 

I do a lot of out-and-back runs – out 1.75 miles and back along the same route.  During such runs, I often notice a similar phenomenon: I may not have any idea it’s windy if the wind is at my back when I start running.  When I get to my turnaround, though, I find a stiff wind in my face. This happens enough that I should probably figure out it is windy before I get to the turnaround, especially since it can lead to a faster pace on the way out, but I still rarely notice.  I just think I’m having a good pace day.

In contrast, it’s pretty hard to miss when the wind is in your face.  Everything feels hard. Everything feels sluggish and slow.  And it feels like, all of a sudden, you have barriers in your way. 

During these runs, it often makes me think about how many other places (in the figurative sense) this happens.  We all have our challenges, and we often have much to overcome.  But some have more challenges than others.  Because our individual challenges are real, it can be easy to miss that we may have fewer challenges than other people have.  

The things that are barriers to our goals are sometimes obvious to us. For example, as those in the current job hunt for a law professorship likely know, a lack of a top-14 law degree can be a significant limit on the number of options one might have entering the legal academy.  It certainly felt like a barrier to certain jobs when I was on the market, anyway. 

Because of that, it would be easy to discount other benefits I have because of who I am. I grew up in a safe neighborhood with good schools.  I am a white male, which means people have expectations for me that are different than others.  There is a level of presumed competence.  And, comparatively, presumed authority and ability.  If there’s no more text visible, please click below to read the whole post.