Back On My Feet, Woman gets homeless to run

Runner gets homeless on right track

Story Highlights
Philadelphia marathoner found herself running past homeless shelter every day
After contacting shelter, Anne Mahlum started running club "Back On My Feet"
Club now has teams in three city shelters with 54 homeless members
Job training partnership has helped members take classes, find employment

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (CNN) -- At 5 a.m. on any given day, Anne Mahlum could be found running the dark streets of Philadelphia -- with homeless men cheering her on as she passed their shelter. But one morning last spring, she stopped in her tracks.

"Running really is a metaphor for life," Anne Mahlum says. "You just have to take it one step at a time."

"Why am I running past these guys?" recalls Mahlum, 27. "I'm moving my life forward every day -- and these guys are standing in the same spot."

Instead of continuing to pass them by, the veteran marathoner sprang into action so they could join her.

She contacted the shelter, got donations of running gear, and in July 2007 the "Back On My Feet" running club hit the streets.

The first day, Mahlum led nine shelter residents in a mile-long run. Today, Back on My Feet has teams in three Philadelphia shelters, including 54 homeless members and more than 250 volunteers. The group has logged more than 5,000 miles.

Requirements for shelter residents to join are simple -- they must live in an affiliated facility and be clean and sober for 30 days. Members receive new shoes and running clothes, and teams run together three times a week between 5:30 and 6 a.m.

The runners are diverse -- doctors, janitors, students and shelter residents -- but such distinctions aren't apparent.

"All you can tell is who's the fastest," says Mahlum. "You can't tell who's homeless and who's not."

For Mahlum and others, Back On My Feet is more than a running club.

"We're a community of support, love, respect," she says.

Watch how the group hits the predawn streets of Philadelphia. »

Last year I post how I was in Philly for a conference of the Association of Presbyterian Church Educators. It was a great conference and we were in the Marriott Convention Center. As a smoker, (yes I still do have the habit) I would go outside and take in the crisp winter air. I missed the winters in Massachusetts since moving down to Florida. The people would pass me by and most would look at me as if I lost my mind. Aside from the fact I would move from under the protection of the overhang so that the snow would hit me, I was also handing money out to panhandlers. Can't help it. I managed to make sure I had a few bucks in my pocket each time I wanted a cigarette. I wondered why so many people would just walk by these people without even offering a kind word. It was almost as if they thought they'd catch something from the homeless people on the streets. After reading this story, I know how small an act I did myself. Anne Mahlum not only gave them a kind word, she gave them a kind deed and let them know people do care about them. She also gave them a sense of hope. Great job she did!