NILES — Bo Marchionte found an activity that lets him enjoy the great outdoors, and he has been doing it every day for 25 years.

On Saturday, Marchionte celebrated his running streak anniversary at Stevens Park in Niles, where he ran loops around the park accompanied by family and friends capped off with a party in his honor at the pavilion afterwards.

“I like being out in nature. I saw a blue heron one time. I see deer. You’d be amazed how much you scare them as much as they scare you. I will see them at Mill Creek Park maybe 5 feet away. I don’t want to be a threat, and they just scamper away. I look up at the rocks. It’s just pretty,” he said.

References to other sports have become part of Marchionte’s running streak.

“When I started the streak, Cal Ripken Jr. of the Baltimore Orioles was working on becoming the new Iron Man of baseball by playing in consecutive games. That put me in the mindset of maybe I could do that. It’s not baseball, but running,” he said.

He even took inspiration from his favorite Formula 1 race driver, Daniel Riccardo.

“When he wins a race, he drinks champagne out of his shoe. When I celebrate a milestone, I drink Miller High Life out of my running shoe. It’s called a shooey,” Marchionte said.

Running has allowed Marchionte to travel first for marathons, of which he has logged 30, and then on vacations to see the sights.

“I usually go to Mill Creek Park, but I have run in races in Florida, Pennsylvania and last fall in Utah when my wife, Wendy, ran a race. Our daughter, Bella, was her pacer. I also ran on the Brooklyn Bridge,” Marchionte said.

The weather for his celebration run and party that became 25 miles with family and friends for 25 years was the perfect running weather, according to Marchionte.

“I love running in the fall and winter,” he said, because he enjoys the cooler temperatures.

Three Trumbull County running legends — Ted Rupp, Jack Tominey and Les Nagy — joined Marchionte at Stevens Park. Rupp even ran a lap with him.

“I was so honored that they were there. They mean so much to the local running community in Trumbull County,” he said.

He also was honored by Niles McKinley football coach Jim Parry, who created the 25-year logo with Marchionte running in the center and gave it to him on a McKinley football helmet.

Marchionte finds many things to like about running that help him continue the streak.

“I love getting out there. It’s therapeutic. You get to think about the day or think about what’s going on and how you have to deal with something and you think it through during the run. Other days, you’re just enjoying being out there and thankful and feel fortunate that you can do it,” he said.

His minimum run is 3 miles per day, but he prefers to do more.

“The days that I am cramped for time then I do the 3-mile run. If I do that for a few days in a row, to me, that’s not a real run. I want to do 8, 10, 15 miles. I am kind of a nut job because I just want to get out and run. It’s not a chore. I just want to do it,” Marchionte said.

Another reason that Marchionte has been able to keep his streak going in northeast Ohio is his preference for inclement weather.

“I won’t run in lightning or a tornado warning but if the forecast says it will snow at 2:30 p.m., I will wait to run. I love running in the snow,” he said.

Ranked 91st in the world and 87th in the United States among male streak runners, Marchionte has found ways to run even during momentous family events.

“He went running when our two children (Vinny and Bella) were born. He made sure everything was OK with us and then he went out and ran,” Wendy Marchionte said.

Besides running in numerous states, he has run on different types of terrain.

“I have run on beaches, mountains, the desert, city streets and trails,” he said.

Marchionte has brought along new runners through the example of his tenacious and determined commitment to his ongoing running streak but, even more so, he continues to pursue this activity because as he said,

“I just love to run, and if I stopped doing it, I would say something really bad happened to me.”

So the streak continues.