– I ran past a lady on Sunday morning when I was out running a 30-kilometer round and round Drammenshallen. It’s a bit special. She was sitting in the park, and on lap 17 of 30 she shouted “you’re not very good, you know”. That’s okay. It doesn’t look very good, but I think it makes me a better guy. Cato Thunes has a good laugh at the story from what for him is a perfectly normal training session. He has every Monday off, but otherwise two sessions a day apply. In total, he runs somewhere between 130 and 150 kilometers a week. In comparison, Jakob Ingebrigtsen is around 180 kilometers away. But Cato is 61 years old. Is married, has four children and four grandchildren. And he is a parish priest in Drammen. – It is extreme to spend so much time running when you are 61, he admits. TRAVEL DAY: The Great Poodle bitch Toccih (in the chair on the left) usually comes to work at the parish office. – With me, people want to know that I have time and then I have to be in touch with the good side of myself, and running contributes to that, Thunes explains. Photo: Hanne Skjellum / news A health project news meets him at the office in Strømsgodset parish. The road both there and to the personal record of 42 kilometers in 2.56.26 has been long. His career started as a doorman at the well-known nightclub Dickens in Drammen, and then he ran a dental laboratory in the same town and worked around the clock. His health was failing, and he took family advice. They agreed to sell off their home, cars and boats. Thunes quit his job and started studying, for 12 years. This is how he finally found his new career path, in the church. First in Drammen, then in Troms and Finnmark. He was there for almost nine years and became both parish priest and provost. Since then, he has been both a hospital chaplain at Modum bad and an offshore chaplain for Sjømannskirka. Cato Thunes on holiday in connection with his own 40th birthday celebration. Photo: Private family holiday in Bilbao when Thunes was 38 years old and a busy dad. Thunes jumped with a parachute when he was 29 years old. – Now the body started to strike, he says. Thunes, here aged 41, together with his wife Wenche. And in the middle of this journey, running would prove to be part of the lifestyle. – The run started simply as a health project. I was in my early 40s, weighed 110 kilos, had high cholesterol and blood pressure, stopped breathing at night, bad knees and the whole package. So then it was a short trip to the doctor. He sat far forward on the chair and looked me deep in the eyes and said: “Cato, you are simply too fat.” Then it was just a matter of pulling the brake and starting to move. “Maste” himself as a personal trainer The joy of running has only grown. A couple of years ago he decided to find a trainer. He called long-distance runner Sindre Buraas, a man with extensive championship experience. – I thought he was unreachable, so there was a bit of banging and scratching on his door, Thunes recalls. PERSONAL TRAINER: Sindre Buraas has set up the marathon program for Cato Thunes. Photo: Hanne Skjellum / news – He appeared very eager. I don’t want to say fussy, because I like people who ask more than once. They show that they want something, says Buraas. – Do you meet many people at 61 in the form Cato is in? – No, very few. But there are quite a few adults, especially guys, who are eager, but Cato stands out a bit by being even more eager, and that’s why he asserts himself. It’s the same mechanisms as with a 20-year-old, those who want the most become the best. The 34-year-old has a tailor-made training program that Thunes rarely or never deviates from. – How do you think Jakob Ingebrigtsen would view it? – I actually think he would say “this is good”, Thunes replies in Sandnes dialect. – Because I somewhat follow the Norwegian model with threshold speed. I’m done with the one where I lie in the fetal position after the training sessions and gulp. I don’t do that anymore, he continues. LAUGHING AT THE RUNNING STYLE: – It goes quite fast, even if it doesn’t look that good, says Thunes about his own running. WC-ready He is dedicated and prioritizes hard, with support from his family. And he likes to put the long trips in before the Sunday service. – It may be a bit extreme, but it gives me so much. I think I’ll be a better guy by keeping it up. IN THE CHURCH: Cato Thunes is parish priest in Strømsgodset parish. It is the church he himself was baptized in. Photo: Hanne Skjellum / news And now, almost 20 years after the aforementioned doctor’s visit, Thunes is in the best shape of his life. After the press and third place in the Berlin marathon last year came an invitation from Chicago and the marathon WC for veterans in October. The goal is the podium and a new personal record. And Thunes has no plans to give up on that. – I don’t give up until it stops, as long as my body lasts, then I run, that is. – What kind of advice do you have for others? – Life is so short. I can’t believe I’m 61. we can’t sit in the “stressless” and think that as long as we get “there” we’ll do it. So seize the opportunity, says Cato Thunes.
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Drammen priest (61) trains almost as much as Jakob Ingebrigtsen – news Sport – Sports news, results and broadcasting schedule
