An individual can participate in the New York City Marathon by either running a qualifying time in a prior marathon or being selected through a lottery system. But when this didn’t work for Kim Wilcox, the Redmond resident found another way to get into the race.

Earlier this month, Wilcox ran the marathon as part of a team running to raise money for the New York chapter of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF). While many people run for a charitable cause as a way to secure a spot in the race, Wilcox said she never wanted to do that unless she had a good reason to do so.

“For me, it was juvenile diabetes,” she said.

Wilcox’s niece Taryn Wilcox was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes — or Type 1 diabetes — when she was 5.  Kim said she and her husband have made personal donations in the past for juvenile diabetes research, so being able to run for a cause that is so close to them worked out for her.

Kim was one of 75 runners on the JDRF team and personally raised $3,550 for the foundation. She said she was tasked with raising $3,500. Kim’s team raised more than $360,000.

To fundraise, Kim said she reached out to friends and family through e-mail, asking for donations to the cause and telling them that she was doing it for her niece.

“I have just had tremendous support,” Kim said. “It was awesome.”

Kim sent out three e-mails asking for donations — the first on June 1 and the third on Oct. 5.

Kim said she meeting her JDRF teammates — most of which were from New York — was inspirational. Many of the runners had Type 1 diabetes and had to check their insulin levels throughout the race and made adjustments accordingly.

“But they finished (the marathon)!” she said.

This was Kim’s fourth marathon. She finished with a time of 4:27:35. Kim, who ran track and cross country in high school, has also participated in marathons in Portland, Ore., Tucson, Ariz. as well as at Disney World.