Actress Natalie Lisinska photographed December 13, 2010 in TorontoFernando Morales/The Globe and Mail
Natalie Lisinska, who plays team leader Alex Cranston in the debut season of CBC-TV's spy comedy InSecurity, has a new-found love of running. In her formative years, she ran to please others and chase awards; at 16, she rebelled and vowed she'd never lace up again. A decade later, she tried it again and was hooked.
When did you start?
I was a track runner in high school at St. Michaels University School on Vancouver Island and rediscovered running three years ago. I felt antsy, disconnected from my body at a time of personal emotional turmoil and I remembered it feels really good to run.
Where do you run?
I run in the west end of Toronto along the beach. I also have an old route up Casa Loma's steps, across the ravine and up around the Winston Churchill hill - it's a fantastic loop. I run in the mornings three times a week before work for 30 minutes, that's 5K or less.
What song gets you started?
Keep the Car Running by Arcade Fire because it's feels like a beginning of a transformative journey. It's a rock song that's fast-tempo and the singer is saying: 'C'mon, let's go! Let's run away.'
What gets you up a tough hill?
Broken Social Scene's Meet Me in the Basement is an instrumental with five or six guitars and it's a long, driving anthem that makes me bear down and run faster.
What track gives you an energy boost?
The Black Keys' Everlasting Light has falsetto vocals with a big grand beat and when I hit the wall in the middle of the run, I need something to kick in and say: 'No, no, you love this.'
What tune concludes your run?
I start my playlist with an Arcade Fire song and I finish with their song We Used to Wait. It's about simpler times and where we came from to appreciate where you are. I'm coming into my own as an adult and letting go of the relics of childhood and there's something joyful about that. As far as that's concerned, running is full circle; as a kid I ran for other people and now I'm running again, but I run for myself."
This interview has been condensed and edited.
Special to The Globe and Mail