by KYW's Pat Loeb

A contingent of high school students will be running in Sunday's Philadelphia marathon, part of a group called "Students Run Philly Style."

Isaiah Smith (above) is 17 and already a two-time marathon veteran:

"You see so many sights when you're running, and everything looks beautiful."

He's a charter member of Students Run Philly Style, a group created to help students get in shape and meet on a regular basis with an adult who serves as their running mentor. 

Jim Paterno is one of Isaiah's mentors:

"I thought it was a great way to be involved, but also to improve my fitness."

Can he keep up with Isaiah?

"No."

Isaiah routinely gets first in his age group in races, but he's ahead of the pack in other ways, too, according to his mom, Mary:

"He kept motivating others to do it, and that's the part where I did actually see him as a leader."

Mary Smith says that at first she thought the idea of students running distances in Philadelphia was a joke. It took her a while before she became a believer.

And Isaiah says he has taken life lessons from his running:

"Not giving up is a part of it because, when I ran a marathon, there were so many times I wanted to sit down.  My thing is, get the run done before it finishes you."

Students Run Philly Style, now four years old, has dozens of success stories: students slimming down, doing better in school, and, like Isaiah, pushing themselves and testing their limits.

How is he feeling about Sunday?

"I feel like I'm going to accomplish something."

(Loeb:)  "You think you'll break 3½ (hours)?"

"Honestly, yeah, I think I'll break it."

The Philadelphia marathon takes off from the Art Museum circle at 7am Sunday morning.