Sid Busch is 70, but he refuses to stop running. Two hundred marathons over 35 years aren't enough.

Sometimes he's hurting. Other times he's tired. Sometimes he can't finish. Or he'll reach the finish line more than seven hours after starting, as he did last year in the Baltimore Marathon. No matter how tough it gets, the people he's running for had it worse.

The flag in Busch's hand, picture on his back and emails in his inbox keep him going. No matter where he is, no matter how healthy, Busch keeps running.

For 15 years, the Brooklyn, N.Y., native who lives in South Carolina has run in races around the world in honor of fallen American troops. He carries an American flag and wears a picture of a soldier on his back throughout each race and then presents his finisher's medal to the family, his way of recognizing that soldier's ultimate sacrifice.

Saturday, he will do so again in Baltimore's ninth annual 10 Miler. Dave Gell, the communications director for Corrigan Sports Enterprises — which organizes the race — said he expects the turnout to rebound from 2015, in the wake of the Freddie Gray riots. Gell said he anticipates about 5,000 runners.

This time, Busch will dedicate his run to Army Capt. Jason R. Hamill, a New Haven, Conn., native who was killed in action on Nov. 26, 2006, in Baghdad. He was 31.

“I think of what these young people went through, and my problems are minor compared to what they went through,” Busch said. “And also, I have to do something to show that their sacrifice has not gone unnoticed.”

Sometime around 1981, Busch estimates, he was 16 years into a 26-year military service career when he ruptured a disk in his back. The Navy was about to remove him from submarine duty, but the sonar technician didn't want that to happen. So he made a pact with the medical review board: If he ran a marathon to prove his fitness, he could stay in submarines.

The marathon at Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah, Ga., was supposed to be the only marathon he ever ran. It wouldn't be.

He ran a few more, and in 2001, he did six with his cousin. Then his cousin died in the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and Busch ran six more the next year in his honor.

After that, Busch started running for fallen veterans, and the mission took off. He ran week after week, sometimes five marathons in a row with no breaks. He ran in London and Scotland and Guam and Hawaii.

At first, Busch looked at the casualty reports online and found soldiers he wanted to honor. Soon, though, word of his routine spread, and families emailed him about their sons and daughters. “And you just can't say no,” Busch said.

Busch picked up the pace. He started running more often, honoring two soldiers at a time, anything to let their families know he appreciated them.

“The only reason I'm out there is for these kids,” Busch said. “If it wasn't for doing it for them, I'd just stay home.”

Each race brings a special memory. Last October, Busch was the last of the 2,511 runners to finish the Baltimore Marathon — his 200th. A motorcycle escort accompanied him at the end, a finish he said he will remember “until the end of time.”

Another time, when he ran the Marine Corps half-marathon in Fredericksburg, Va., Busch and a partner ran past a man who stood up from his lawn chair in front of his house and saluted them. They noticed that the man wore a World War II veteran cap, and they turned around to return his salute.

As Busch gets older, it becomes harder to keep up. He has switched to shorter races such as the 10 Miler this year to try to gear up for more marathons next year, but he knows there will come a time when he can't do any more.

By that point, he hopes his message will have reached enough people.

“I'm glad that other people are starting to take up carrying the flag and running to honor these kids,” Busch said. “Because most Americans, as long as they can go to the mall on weekends and watch sporting events, have seemed to forget about these kids. And I think it's important we [remember] that they're still over there.”

Years ago, just before he headed off for his fourth deployment in Afghanistan, Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Jimmy Malachowski of Westminster told his mother that his greatest fear was that if he died in combat, no one would have ever known he had lived, except for his family.

Busch read about that after Malachowski was killed in action in 2011, and he couldn't stand the thought of it. So he ran three marathons, including Baltimore in 2012, with Malachowski's picture on his back. In one, the Marine Corps Marathon in Arlington, Va., Malachowski's parents ran the 10K race. After they finished, all three runners went to Arlington Cemetery and placed their medals on Malachowski's headstone.

For Busch, few moments could mean more.

jlourim@baltsun.com

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