She may not be running up the steps like Sylvester Stallone in "Rocky," but Wareham resident Kerry Smith will be running past the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where the iconic scene took place. Rather than taking on a heavyweight champion, however, Smith will be fighting juvenile diabetes.

Smith will participate in the Philadelphia Marathon on November 20, racing for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF). The organization raises money for type one diabetes research in an effort to find a cure for the disease.

Neither Smith nor her own children suffer from type one diabetes, but two of her friends have children with the disease.

"I know what they go through with their kids on a daily basis," she said.

This will be Smith's first marathon. She has been preparing herself with "hours and hours" of running over the past few weeks. Her brother, Justin Herndon, has been training with her to run in the marathon himself, though he will not be doing it for the JDRF.

Smith said her biggest concern when signing up for the race wasn't how long it was, but how she was going to fit the training into her everyday life. Her husband works and they have three children between the ages of 3 and 9 to take care of. Smith also works and is studying to be a registered nurse. However, despite all these commitments, she has managed to make running part of her routine.

"I really just do it when I can," Smith said, adding that sometimes that means rising at sun-up to train before her husband goes to work.

Smith has already met her fundraising goal, but wants to try to raise as much money as she can. Interested donors can search for "Kerry Smith" on the jdrfevents.donordrive.com website or mail a check made out to JDRF with Smith's name in the memo to her address at 12 Parkwood Drive, Wareham, MA 02571.

Smith's husband, three children, father, step-mother, step-brother, and sister-in-law will all travel to Philadelphia to see her and Herndon run in the race. Smith has never visited the city before and though she's not supposed to be on her feet too much the day before the race, she said some sight-seeing will be necessary: Her 9-year-old son will have his classroom's Wally the Green Monster stuffed animal, and they'll need to make sure they get a picture of the traveling toy at one of the city's famous landmarks!