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Rick Campbell Chronicle Staff Cecil Edward Thorne ran from Toronto‘s lakeshore to Oakville in 1973. He announced the victory to no one. But then again, unlike the poor soul in 490 B.C., Cec didn‘t die either. â€"Almost, but not quite. Who was to know that on an innocentâ€"enough looking morning when Thorne took his Samoid/Border collie for their routine romp, he would be struck with the idea â€" almost an obsession â€" of seeing how far he could run along Lake Ontario? Ontario? The excursion momentarily soured Cec Some 21 miles later, give or take the on long distance running, but it wasn‘t odd 385 yards, he, and his dog, found out. long before he was back at it, competing A rather foolish venture, think some in his first official marathon on Toronto‘s (still), but likewise who was to know that Centre Island. jaunt would provide the foundation for a Finished second last. truly amazing accomplishment 10 years "And I had to beat an old man in front down the road? of me â€" he was about 57 I think â€" in order You see, Saturday, Oct. 15, 1983, a week _ to do it. I think I beat him by about a and a dav after his 50th birthday. Cecil > minute." You see, Saturday, Oct. 15, 1983, a week and a day after his 50th birthday, Cecil Thorne crossed the finish line of the Buffaloâ€"toâ€"Niagara Falls Skylon Marathon. So did thousands of others, but it held far more significance for the jovial, 5â€"footâ€"1 custodian from Dominion Life Assurance Co. At 50 years of age, Cecil Thorne had completed his 50th marathon, a mere decade after he took up competitive running. 50 in 50. Champagne city. _ The mind, plain and simply, boggles at the feat. marâ€"aâ€"thon: n. 1. a long distance foot race, especially that of 26 miles, 385 yards in the modern Olympic Games. (Named after Marathon in Greece, where an invading Persian army was defeated in~490 B.C.;: a man who fought at the battle ran to Athens, announced the victory, A dozen years isn‘t that far in the past that Cec Thorne doesn‘t remember what it was like to be overweight, with health problems, spending sleepless nights. It was time to get his priorities reâ€"arranged, and improved fitness through running seemed the logical course of action. and died.) A native of Sydney, N.S., Cec moved to Montreal and then Toronto in the midâ€"1950s. He worked in several of Toronto‘s more famous hotels and also spent time as a "hot walker‘" at racetracks, cooling down horses after their morning training sessions. It was through that connection that he became attracted to the graceful fluidity of the fourâ€"legged set. _ -';i‘;eozlways admired their (horses) freedom of movement, there‘s a connection there with (humans) running. "And I like dancing too, I‘ve always liked being in motion. Rhythm is very important to running, if you have a problem with coâ€"ordination, it will come out when you run. It may sound corny, but rhythm governs everything we do in life, if you don‘t have it, you‘re not really in time to the beat of life." Cec wanted to get in time. And so, in 1970 he began running, but not seriously until 1973. In fact, he had only been training hard for several weeks when the Oakville escapade occurred. "It "';I"'e “%L”c"f got me running in Renthinins e mmcmtininte n Soviininemenciine mntmerertin ic aseninc n t atsas nce eate e ad the first place," il recalled the other s day, ‘"when I used to chase him around in He doesn‘t do that much coaching, but Cec Thorne will gi circles throwing him a stick. For runners from Seagram‘s hell if they don‘t do well in a race. whatever reason, on that particular m morning, I just said ‘my God, why not run in a straight direction, try exerting myself.‘ I knew the dog was in better shape than 1 was, I just decided to see how far I could go." Though he refused to label the stunt outright impulse, Thorne admitted in view of his limited training and knowledge of the sport, that the move was a rather "stupid one". "I tried to take the bus back from Oakville, but they wouldn‘t let the dog on the bus, so we had to walk back .. all I remember is I was supposed to get supper and I didn‘t know if I could stand on my feet to do it." More significantly, his time (3:28.06) was good enough to qualify him for the next year‘s Boston Marathon, the Crown Jewel of road races. "After the race a couple of guys came up and threw their arms around me saying ‘hey, you qualified for Boston.‘ I had no idea ... I did know that after that (first) marathon I didn‘t want to run another one, the pain was unexplainable It hurt, but it didn‘t hurt." _ Again Cec overcame the immediate urge to pack in distance running. He competed at Boston in 1975, finishing 1178th of a registered 1818 finishers, and labelied that experience, as well the feeling he derived from the Rochester Marathon this year, as the most thrilling he has experienced. The camaraderie, the social atmosphere, Chariots of Fire, you name it. And as the years went on so did the number of marathons he entered. Twelve, incrédibly, in his second year (1975) seven another year, the numbers varied. He once ran three in a month, the number some of the most openâ€"minded doctors recommend for the course of a year. "Part of my success in reaching 50 in 50 is that I did not take it that serious, I‘ve been able to run this many marathons by not running all out in each one," he said. "If I had to punish myself, I wouldn‘t have achieved what I set out to _ At the same time, Thorne has become a devout student of the sport of running, another factor in his survival. _ "Actually, I‘m a perfectionist, that‘s what has helped. I answer to my body language, if I feel stress is being put on my body, I ease off. One year I went all the way to Ottawa to run a marathon â€" then didn‘t run it because I knew I wasn‘t right." but Cec Thorne will give his fellow As much as being a student of the WATERLOO CHRONICLE, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 198 Rick Campbell photos game, Cec has played the role of coach of sorts with a group of runners from Seagram‘s Distillery who befriended him one day while doing their laps at Seagram Stadium. It‘s been a fun couple of years for both parties as they partake in their lunch-hour_and weekend training sessions. : ‘"My work hours (at Dominion Life) are ideal for me," said Cec, who moved to the Twin Cities in 1979. "I go to work at 4: 30 p.m. so that gives me time during the day to run with the boys." "We‘re usually running in the same marathon, I don‘t really do that much coaching â€" but I‘ll give them hell if they don‘t do well. They‘re all really nice guys, they‘ll sit and listen if you‘ve got something interesting to say." And what of following his adopted marathoners into action? Tom Schwan, the last to join the Seagram six which includes Bob Banyard, John Gordon, Pat Hanley, Tom Simpson and Jerry Russell, praised Thorne for not only passing along valuable tips, but also for helping maintain enthusiasm during runs. "We kid Cec about his mauve leotards and litte hats, plus his size of course," said Schwan. "It‘s great fun running with him though, he always chats, you can‘t keep him quiet, he‘ll talk about running, the weather, sports events, what we should be doing, shouldn‘t be doing. When he and Banyard get going the rest of us don‘t have to say a word, you just sit back and listen. One thing about him though, he‘s always interested in how we‘re doing, I guess that‘s why we nicknamed him the coach." Cecil zeroed in on the thought of 50 in 50 back at the 40â€"marathon plateau. At the end of last year, with 45 under his belt, he felt confident of his ability to pull it off, but it was no snap. "I started getting tired as I approached 50, the fear of doing something like twisting an ankle made me cautious while training for those final marathons which meant I wasn‘t training as extensively as I should have. But now that it‘s over, I can take it easy and run as I feel." It goes without saying the final portion of the Skylon was a goosebump gallop for Cec. Friends he had made over the years chanted "50â€"50â€"50"¢ from the sidelines, wives of fellow runners presented him with a commemorative sweater, and of course, the bubbly flowed, not only for Cec, but for Schwan, who posted his first marathon time of under three hours. _ _ â€" "It was all so great, such a thrill, I had to pinch myself on the way back to the motel," Cec said. What makes Cecil Thorne‘s a success story of unlimited dimensions is that he orchestrated it all with such minimal fanfare. His greatest reward lies in the fact running has improved his lot in life, and has become a significant part of it. He plans to continue his longâ€"distance passion at a much less hectic pace now, likely one a year so he can still get "60 in 60", and hobbies like gardening and reading will help take up the spare time. But meanwhile, the last decade of accomplishment in Cecil Thorne‘s life is living proof that with enough diligence, nothing is beyond our grasp. As in Marathon in 490 B.C., Cec has fought his battle. And won. And the best part is, he runs, and lives to tell about it.