MARATHONER WILL RUN FOR THE KIDS - ONE MORE TIME.

Byline: Dennis McCarthy 

Every year, 74-year-old ``Big Ed'' Rasky promises this will be his last Los Angeles Marathon. His weary bones and muscles just can't take the pounding anymore of running 26.2 miles through the streets of L.A.

But every year when March rolls around, there he is again, running. The retired, 36-year veteran West Hills schoolteacher can't help himself.

Those young, beautiful, smiling faces from the past keep coming back to him.

Kids whom Big Ed has treated to the best week of their short, young lives with the money he's raised from sponsors to run this marathon.

Kids who have died from terminal cancer, but not before Big Ed had them laughing and having a wonderful time during the summer up at Camp Ronald McDonald for Good Times in Idyllwild.

So, on a rainy Monday in L.A., when most of the city is taking the day off, Big Ed Rasky drives over to the Calabasas Tennis and Swim Club, and starts peddling a stationary bike 20 miles.

He'd rather be home, stretched out on the couch reading a good book, he says, but he's here pushing his body to the limit again for another L.A. Marathon, his 15th straight.

``I keep thinking of those wonderful kids who get cancer,'' Big Ed says. ``I don't know why. But I do know what a wonderful time they have at camp for seven fabulous days.''

So he trains hard for another group of kids he hasn't met yet. They need him to forget the weary bones and muscles, and to run again so they can have the best week of their short lives at camp this summer.

Big Ed can't let them down.

If you've been a regular reader of this column for a while, you've met Ed Rasky before. There are few topics or people in this town I think are important enough to revisit every year for our support. Big Ed's one of them.

To me, he is the L.A. Marathon. All heart and no quit.

He got the nickname ``Big Ed'' because of those strong shoulders of his. In the 14 straight years he's run the marathon, he's carried a few hundred terminally ill cancer children, in spirit, on those broad shoulders.

``There isn't any greater inspiration to keep on going - especially when you hit the walls at mile 20 and your body is screaming bloody murder - than to feel these kids sitting on my shoulders, rooting me on,'' Big Ed has said.

He takes the money his friends, relatives, former students, poker buddies, tennis partners, former teaching colleagues and strangers pledge to him every year to run this marathon, and spends it all on kids who most likely won't see next year.

It costs Ed, who also spends his summer volunteering at the camp, $500 for each kid to have a heck of a week. Last year, he raised enough to send 12 terminally ill kids to camp. This year, he's shooting for 14 or 15.

He knows after all these years not to get too close to the kids he sponsors for camp because they'll break your heart. You realize they're around only for a limited time, so it's important to make that time count, Big Ed says.

``All the kids have lost their hair, and some are missing an arm or a leg, while others are in wheelchairs,'' he says. ``But the moment they all get to camp and meet each other, they start having the time of their lives.

``Nobody's thinking about cancer,'' he says. ``Everybody's thinking about having fun.''

So Big Ed Rasky is running for his kids again, reaching a milestone himself this year.

Only 366 marathon runners in this big city have started and finished every L.A. Marathon, and Big Ed's one of them, according to marathon officials. For that, he has been named an L.A. Marathon Legacy Runner.

But Big Ed's real legacy won't be based on how many L.A. Marathons he ran, but rather why.

Because of all those young, beautiful, smiling faces from the past that keep coming back to him whenever he starts to think that maybe this will be his last marathon.

Anyone who wants to help Big Ed sponsor a cancer child for camp this summer can call him at [phone], or write him at 22503 Welby Way, West Hills, CA 91307.

CAPTION(S):

photo

Photo: Ed Rasky will run in his 15th Los Angeles Marathon next month. The 74-year-old can't quit -- not when he remembers the young kids with cancer he's helped. This year, he hopes to send 14 or 15 to summer camp.

Andy Holzman/Staff Photographer