EDITOR’S NOTE: This is one of a series of Saturday profiles of area residents and their stories. To suggest a profile, contact features editor Burton Cole at bcole@tribtoday .com.

YOUNGSTOWN — Should you attend the third annual Youngstown Marathon at Mill Creek Park on Oct. 27, look for the pacer waving a sign festooned with colorful balloons and wearing cute bunny ears adorning her long blonde hair.

That will be Marie Bartoletti. She will be running her 469th marathon in 25 years.

Balloons and bunny ears are not the only accoutrements setting Bartoletti apart from the crowd. She has written an autobiography to be published soon, titled “Perseverance.” After suffering a stroke in 2015, perseverance was the one critical trait she possessed that kept her going.

“Perseverance has brought me through many periods of self-doubt in my life,” Bartoletti said of the book’s theme.

No doubt, perseverance will be on display en masse at Mill Creek Park in virtually all its participants. “The ABCs of marathon running,” Bartoletti said, “are:

“A. Achievement;

“B. Bravery;

“C. Courage; and

“D. Determination.”

Bartoletti will also speak at the Youngstown Marathon Association’s spaghetti dinner that Saturday evening before Sunday’s marathon. On the dais with her will be last year’s winner, Erik Reed.

Ironically, Bartoletti disliked running in high school.

“I did every sport I could,” she recalled. “I played golf, softball, volleyball, basketball and tennis. The one sport I hated was running.”

Athleticism was built into her DNA. The third of seven children, she was born in 1957 in Kalamazoo, Mich. Her father was a career coach. He also was a practical man. Like many parents of his generation, it was important to him that children in pursuit of competitive careers, such as sports and music, develop a fallback skill as well.

“Dad encouraged me to major in physical education and minor in business education,” Bartoletti said.

That fallback skill came into play when was offered a job in Mesa, Ariz., as a business teacher. This did not stop her athletic career, though, for she also coached the school’s volleyball team to a state championship.

Prior to those years in Arizona, Bartoletti lived briefly in Pittsburgh, where she met the man whose last name she was to take — Mark Bartoletti. Love lured her back to Pittsburgh. She and Mark were married on New Year’s Eve 1982. Pittsburgh became her permanent home.

Soon, Bartoletti landed a job at Sacred Heart School teaching physical education in grades 1 to 12. By then, her disdain for running had transformed into a passion for it. In May 1995, she launched her running career in the Pittsburgh Marathon.

Some people travel the world for fun, some for education, Bartoletti travels the world to run.

Why did she start running? To paraphrase Forrest Gump, “For no particular reason … she just felt like running.”

Bartoletti does have a specific reason, however, for serving as a pacer in most marathons she runs now. A pacer literally sets the pace for a group of runners in a marathon. Many runners tend to run fast at the start of a race because that’s when they feel their best. By the end, they can barely walk,

In distance running, Bartoletti said, “A pacer’s job is to help the people make and achieve their time for each mile. I help my group of runners physically, emotionally, spiritually and mentally by running alongside them and pacing them.”

One of Bartoletti’s proudest achievements was the establishment of a Pittsburgh school program she dubbed Kids of Steel.

“The goal of the organization,”she said, “is to engage young runners to train four months to build up from one mile to 25 miles. Their 26th mile is accomplished on the Saturday before the Pittsburgh Marathon at the Kids Marathon.”

Kids of Steel has grown from 300 students its first year to 8,000 students today.

“I am proud to see the program continue to grow and foster a love of running in young people. My marathon buddies are beginning similar programs in other states, as well,” she said.

In 2003, Wheaties honored Bartoletti by picturing her on the front of its Wheaties Energy Crunch cereal box.

“I was invited to New York City for the unveiling of the cover by famed gymnast Mary Lou Retton, and was awarded $10,000. I donated it all to the American Heart Association.”

By 2015, Bartoletti had raised two children, been divorced and met her current boyfriend, John. He was with her on a chilly Thanksgiving morning in Kalamazoo, where Bartoletti had returned to celebrate the holiday with her family.

As she remembered it, “At 7:42 a.m., I was going into my room when I heard John ask, ‘Are you OK?’ That was the last thing I remember. I was having a stroke.”

A former firefighter, John recognized the symptoms immediately. He had her lie on the floor and called an ambulance.

While strokes often damage victims physically, Bartoletti’s stroke damaged only her speech.

“I couldn’t say my name or even answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to the doctors’ questions,” she said. “I had to rely on gestures and shaking my head to communicate.”

Intensive speech therapy followed. Of her struggle to recover, John said: “Marie is very hard on herself. She’s her own worst critic. I told her, ‘Marie, you had a stroke. You did nothing wrong.'”

This was when Bartoletti’s perseverance came into play. She spent six days in the hospital. On the seventh day, the day after she was discharged, she ran six miles and continued to run six miles a day until her first post-stroke marathon only two months later.

“Running marathons allows me to be in the present moment. To be in my zone,”she said. “I love to encourage others and to share in their excitement as they cross the finish line. I hope to be an inspiration to others who are facing their own challenges in life. I live by the motto, ‘With perseverance, you can accomplish anything!'”

Proceeds from this year’s Youngstown Marathon will benefit Blue Coats and Beatitude House. A third beneficiary is to be announced after a participant vote.

In its first two years, the Youngstown Marathon Foundation has donated $24,000 to local charity partners including the United Way of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley, Youngstown CityScape and the Down Syndrome Association of the Valley.

Details of the race and surrounding events are to be found on the foundation’s website at www. youngstownmarathon.com.

Keep your eye out for the pacer with the balloons and the bunny ears.