The 2012 Boston Marathon will be the second for Watertown’s Kelly Cote, who is running to raise money for her favorite cause – Perkins School for the Blind.

Growing up, Cote said, she was not an athlete, so running a marathon was something she built up to gradually.

“I’ve been a runner for several years, and I guess I like a challenge,” Cote said. “When I began running I was doing it as a way to get in shape, maybe lose some weight.”

She started with a 5K race, then moved up to 10K and then took on the challenge of a half marathon.

“People said once you do a half marathon you will be hooked,” Cote said.

Prepping for this year’s race was both easier and tougher for Cote.

“Last year had running partner though (the Perkins) team. We ran at the same speed and we ran the marathon together and finished together,” Cote said. “This year she wasn’t running so it was more difficult. I had to do on my own. It took a lot more motivation.”

The weather, however, has cooperated this year.

“I thought, if could train last year through the blizzards, then I could do it this year no problem,” Cote said.

Cote often runs along the Charles toward Boston, and on her longer runs she will go all the way down Memorial Drive to the Museum of Science and back along the Storrow Drive side – around 15 to 16 miles.

Watertown-based Perkins School for the Blind is not just a charity for Cote. The Watertown resident first visited the school when she was a teen in Holliston.

“I starting volunteering when I was 14, and I never left,” Cote said. “I started working as an employee on weekend and during the summer in college, and worked my way up. I have been here for a long time.”

Cote became a certified vision rehabilitation therapist, and works as supervisor of the outreach program at Perkins.

She is one of 10 members of the Perkins marathon team. Members must raise $5,000, up from $3,250 last year, but that was not a problem for Cote.

“It is a big chunk of change,” Cote said. “I am the top fundraiser, I raised $11,000.”

She held bake sales, raffles, and was able to get a $4,000 donation from the Boston Young Professionals Association, which donated the proceeds from their date auction to Cote’s cause.

(Follow Kelly Cote's progress on Marathon Day on Watertown Patch. We will have live updates and images from the along the race route during the 2012 Boston Marathon.)