BODY WATCH : Dances With Coyotes and Deer

I run trails in the canyons in the Santa Monica mountains. I’ve run into bees, poison oak and rattlesnakes. I have seen hawks, rabbits, coyotes, deer and bobcats. I know the canyons turn green, then gold, then brown, year after year, and I have seen them turn black after fire. I have learned to hear my footsteps, to listen to my breathing. There is a rhythm in the trail and in me. We’re a dance.

--CATHY CABALLERO, Malibu