How Running with the Track and Field Club Helped Me Slow Down
By Daphne Soriano (GU-Q’28)
Daphne Soriano is a sophomore majoring in Culture and Politics. She loves writing, poetry, and going on long walks at Oxygen Park.
Deadlines, exams, and papers. Rushing to uni in the morning, speed walking in the hallways to get to back-to-back meetings, all-nighters during finals week, and balancing work with readings.
These are the adrenaline rushes I’ve grown accustomed to when it comes to academics at Georgetown University in Qatar (GU-Q). But with the Track and Field club, there’s a different kind of rush I get: runner’s high.
When I’m on a run, everything melts away, and nothing else matters. The air feels heavenly on my skin, and for a moment, it makes me feel like all the day’s work is nothing but a memory. In those moments, nothing but my movement is real. It’s only me and the empty street outside our house, the lights glinting off windows, and the sound of my feet’s rhythmic pattern against the dusty concrete—that steady thump thump thump as I run circles around our block until there’s a lightness in my body.
But it didn’t start out easy.
When I joined the RunGP on October 3, 2025 to run a 7km race, I was a complete beginner.
I barely had any preparation or training. I didn’t know how to pace myself so I pushed myself for the first 1km, quickly succumbed to cramps, and walked for the remaining distance. My leg cramp was so bad, I couldn’t walk properly for a week.
Still, I loved it! The rush of adrenaline was exhilarating, the energy on the race track too thrilling. It was my first taste of a race, and I quickly came to love the teeth clenching pain of cramped legs, tight chests, and sore feet.
I joined weekly club runs, and would train on my own at home when I couldn’t. I built up my pace and endurance, slowly but surely, run after run. I fell in love with night runs when the weather started getting cooler, and then with early morning runs when the school year started. I ran alone, with friends, at home, in parks, in the heat, in the cold, when it was easy, and especially when it wasn’t.
In the process, without noticing, I also learned to slow down and be in the moment. I learned to listen to my body, giving it the rest, recovery, and fuel it needs. On long distance runs, it’s necessary to pace oneself to avoid overexerting. This taught me how to bring awareness into my body and notice each moment as it comes.
Just a few months after that gruelling 7km run (walk, really), I would confidently don my purple leggings and push myself as I ran my first 10km race for the Ooredoo Marathon. When I crossed that finish line at Sheraton Park, it was pure euphoria. It was the culmination of months of hard work and showing up, of putting intention into practice inside and outside the track.
Running with the Track and Field club has taught me the importance of sustained effort and the value of showing up. It matters not just that you show up on week 1, but also week 10. It matters, too, that you give yourself fully into each task, knowing that each thing we do is an act of love for ourselves.
In Invitation, Mary Oliver wrote, “It is a serious thing just to be alive on this fresh morning in the broken world.” With that recognition, you must take hold of your life and be present in every moment. Feel your heart beating and the gentle rise and fall of your chest. Let your shoulders settle and your heart open to the possibilities the world can bring. It is, after all, a great blessing just to exist in this world.
What will you slow down and be present for today?
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