It’s a busy week with the pressures of work and personal life on my mind but I have a routine to help my mental health: I lace up my shoes for a run or walk along The Katy Trail to clear my mind and enjoy being in a beautiful, natural space, a respite to calm my mind and enjoy life.
My name is Sana Syed and this is My Dallas Trail Story.
When I was in high school, my counselor diagnosed me with depression and prescribed an antidepressant. She warned me that there would be side effects, but I’d need to stay with it for a few months until my body accepted it and then it would feel normal to take the pill everyday. At the age of 16, I took my first antidepressant pill. I remember feeling like I was in a haze for months, my body didn’t feel like my body and my mind didn’t feel like my mind.
That summer, I was a junior in high school and decided to join the cross country and track teams. I fell in love with running for the camaraderie, how amazing I felt afterwards – and I no longer needed antidepressants. I am by no means a fast runner – my asthma keeps me from pushing too much. It took me months to regulate my breathing so that I was able to keep up with my peers, and despite the fact that practice was often around 4pm after school in the blazing Texas heat. Running became a tool to manage my mental health.
While in college, I managed to trip on the stairs and tore all the ligament on the right side of my right foot. I was on crutches for weeks – it hurt for a year. When I started running again years later, it was on treadmills to be safe. I ran on treadmills for 15 years – until April 2020 after COVID-19 hit. The gyms were closed, there were no treadmills to be had. And I desperately needed to get out of the house. Several times a week, I began visiting Katy Trail and running on their soft trails from Turtle Creek Park toward Knox Park or Victory Park.
It was liberating – and after I began running outdoors on the trails, it gave me the confidence to run in my neighborhood, on vacation and with my dogs.
Once I began running outdoors again on soft-surface trails, it had an immediate positive effect on my mental health. When I ran on the trails, I would purposefully look at the beautiful greenery around me, the cats, dogs, squirrels, birds and people; I took note of the morning breeze. It was therapeutic and I felt safe. Years later, this is still my happy place. I utilize the trails for running, hill sprints, interval training, walking the pups and to meet friends for long walks.
My preferred route is running between Victory Park and Turtle Creek. I park at Turtle Creek Park, on N Hall Street. If I’m with my family and pups, we walk the same route, make it all the way to Victory and then turn around to eat breakfast at the Katy Trail Ice House – with plenty of water breaks for the pups, thanks to water fountains for pets and people throughout the route. I usually get an order of onion rings and delicious breakfast burritos with scrambled eggs and tater tots. I look forward to the trail continuing through Victory Park one day.
Dallas trails have given me a sanctuary – where I’m able to come as I am, push myself and manage my mental health.
