Anne Mahlum: Setting Goals and Seeing Them Through

It is amazing to see what people can do when they put their minds to it. Fitness guru and entrepreneur Anne Mahlum of Washington D.C. set a goal of completing a marathon on every continent. No small task, particularly since there were six years between one marathon and the next. And even more so because the marathon she was missing was in Antarctica.

But in March 2019, she reached her goal. As she explained in an interview with Runners World, “I was taking inventory of my life and thinking about some goals that I had set for myself. I had kept saying for years, ‘Oh, I’ve run a marathon on every continent but Antartica.’ Finally, I just said, ‘Am I ever gonna get this thing done? It’s time to commit.’”

And commit she did. In January of 2019 she reached out to the president of Marathon Tours to see if she could get on the waiting list for the following year's marathon in Antarctica. Suddenly, a spot opened up for the 2019 race and she took the opportunity. Anne Mahlum stepped up her training in the seven and a half weeks that she had before the big race and finished in 5:23:46. Not only did she complete the race, with much harder conditions than she expected, but she gave of herself along the way.

Mahlum raised $102,927 for the New York Chapter of Back on My Feet. This nonprofit, which Anne Mahlum founded in 2007 helped homeless people to get back on their feet. So while Anne was getting her running legs back and crossing the finish line for her final marathon goal, she was also helping others to get back on their feet and cross their own finish lines.