WHEN I WAS 27 or 28, I moved to Vancouver. I drove a taxi to pay the bills. I was overweight and my girlfriend dumped me. I took up running and I got obsessed. I lost 13 kilograms.
I’D RUN along the sea wall with the snow-crusted mountains in the distance. Vancouver was epic.
THE BACK STORY I created for my Twilight character, Demetri [a tracker in the Volturi guard], involved being impossible to capture. I regard Demetri as the most physically capable predator in the underworld.
I NEVER get recognised on a run. I have a normal life. I take buses. I get messy in pubs.
WHEN I RUN, I work the hip flexor muscles to elongate my stride and keep it flowing and low. If that makes any sense.
IF YOU BELIEVE Born to Run, running is our primal weapon. But if Armageddon was around the corner, most people couldn’t run 10 metres. I’d like to help kids and older people take up running.
I RAN the BC Cancer Foundation’s Underwear Affair 10K last July (in Vancouver). I took my clothes off and ran. It was liberating. I’d had a lot of beer that week, so the photos aren’t very flattering. But I had a good time – 37:40. [He won.]
BEING A RUNNER can be a bit detrimental to acting. I’m fit, so I’m very calm, and [as an actor] that’s not interesting. Sometimes, I’ll do push-ups before a scene so I’m a little out of breath.
RUNNING HELPED me become my own person. It gave me a competitive edge.
IF WE ALL RAN every day, it would solve a lot of problems. We’d have world peace.
