Anne Mahlum Takes on Antarctica Marathon – Back on My Feet Foundation – runnersworld.com

After a six-year hiatus from running, Anne Mahlum got back into it big time, finishing up her goal of completing a marathon on every continent. Her last remaining one? Antarctica.

She crossed that off her list on March 17, and she did it for a good cause: She ended up raising $102,927 for the New York City chapter of Back on My Feet, a nonprofit she had founded in 2007 that uses​ running and community to empower people experiencing homelessness.

While Mahlum hadn’t laced up in six years, she wasn’t inactive. She had been busy growing her boutique fitness company Solid Core—a high-intensity workout system that uses slow and controlled movements to work muscles to failure—which put her worldwide marathon goal on hold. However, the dream resurfaced, and she decided to finish what she started.

“I was taking inventory of my life and thinking about some goals that I had set for myself,” Mahlum said. “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.’”

In late January of this year, she reached out to the president of Marathon Tours, who is also a board member of Back On My Feet, to see if she could get placed on the waitlist for the following year’s Antarctica Marathon. He responded two days later with the news that there had been a cancelation—an open spot for the 2019 race was hers if she wanted it.

She seized the opportunity, and immediately began an aggressive training plan that would get her marathon-ready in seven and a half weeks. As she worked her way back into a running regimen, she opted to take a different approach to her training, focusing on running for a set amount of time rather than a certain number of miles, listening to various podcasts along the way.

She was surprised to find how much she had missed running: “It felt pretty natural again.”

[Smash your goals with a Runner’s World Training Plan, designed for any speed and any distance.]

The race itself proved to be far more of a challenge, both physically and mentally. At one point, a ten-minute hailstorm descended on the runners. Shoe-snatching mud covered most of the path; the terrain was unexpectedly steep and hilly; treacherous headwinds added an extra challenge to the nearly 2.2-mile out-and-back course.

“There were 40-mile-per-hour winds as soon as you turned around, and you had to run into that six times,” she said.

Basically, it felt like how you’d expect a marathon would feel in the coldest continent.

“We were satisfied with the conditions we encountered on race day because it really ​felt​ like Antarctica—like, it ​should​ have been really hard,” she said. “We all felt very accomplished afterward.”

Thinking about the cause she was running for helped propel her through the conditions. She brought to mind the perseverance of the members of Back on My Feet, and how hard they work to create positive change in their lives.

“That helped me keep going. And all the money that people helped raise with genuine happiness to contribute…I felt focused, inspired, and supported,” she said.

She finished Antarctica in 5:23:46, and wants to keep building on that running momentum. In May, she will be participating in the Broad Street Run 10-miler, along with the Philadelphia chapter of Back on My Feet.

As for new race goals, she has her sights set on achieving a PR in whichever marathon she takes on next. “With proper training, and with real diligence and nutrition, I’d like to see if I can get back down to my 3:20 marathon time.”