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.
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Philadelphia marathoner found herself running past homeless shelter every day
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After contacting shelter, Anne Mahlum started running club "Back On My Feet"
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Club now has teams in three city shelters with 54 homeless members
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Mahlum aims to have Back On My Feet in 10 local shelters by the end of the year and expand beyond @placeholder in 2009.