Life and Work with Jennifer Schubert-Akin

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jennifer Schubert-Akin.

Jennifer, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
A Quarter Century of the Boston Marathon, 1995-2019. On April 2, 1990, I ventured out the door of our home in Austin, Texas, for my first run. I was 15-20 pounds overweight and tired of hearing my co-workers talk about the latest 5K and 10K races they had run. In those days, my idea of a “workout” was mixing a cocktail then spinning for 15-20 minutes on my stationary bike while enjoying my cocktail and watching TV!

On the suggestion of a friend who was a runner, I put on my “tennis shoes,” with the goal to attempt to run for 15 minutes without stopping. I made it 17 minutes and felt as if I had conquered the world!

In April 1993, I ran my first marathon, Big Sur, in California. It was incredibly beautiful and inspiring, and I was hooked. Then, in December 1994, I qualified for the Boston Marathon by finishing the Dallas White Rock Marathon with just 13 seconds to spare!

I ran my first Boston Marathon in 1995, while it was still a relatively small race, with fewer than 10,000 runners. Timing chips had not even been invented yet. My finish time was good enough to qualify for the next year, so I returned to Boston… and qualified again… and again… and again!

This annual rite of Spring has become an important and thoroughly enjoyable part of life for my husband, Rick Akin, and me. In recent years, however, there have been some significant challenges which threatened to derail my dream of finishing 25 consecutive Boston Marathons.

In April of 2013, I crossed the finish line of my 19th consecutive Boston Marathon, less than ten minutes before two bombs exploded near the finish line. My husband, Rick, was waiting for me near the finish line. While hundreds of people suffered injuries and three people lost their lives that day, Rick and I were extremely fortunate to be spared.

In April of 2016, the Denver airport was closed due to a major snowstorm, cancelling all flights, including our flight to Boston. Rather than sit in Denver and hope for things to change, we drove all night, through a driving rainstorm, from Denver to Wichita, Kansas, where we arrived just in time to catch an early morning flight from Wichita to Chicago, connecting to Boston. The weather in Boston was beautiful, and I had a great race, crossing the finish line of my 22nd consecutive Boston Marathon. Many other Colorado runners were stranded in Denver and missed the race.

In 2017, my training was very limited all winter leading up to my 23rd Boston, due to a small tear in my IT band. I cross-trained, went to physical therapy, and spent hours running on an anti-gravity treadmill. Nevertheless, I was feeling great through the first half of the race, then disaster struck. Just past the half marathon point, my left knee started to hurt. The pain became progressively worse, and I stopped at a medical tent at Mile 18 to have my knee wrapped with an Ace bandage. The pain continued to worsen to the point where I was limping badly, and then my right knee also started to hurt. I persevered to cross the finish line in indescribable pain. I returned home to Steamboat Springs in a wheelchair, thinking that I just had severe inflammation in my knees; however, an MRI a few days after the race revealed that I had sustained a tibial plateau fracture in my left leg and a stress fracture in my right leg. I had finished my 23rd consecutive Boston Marathon with two broken legs. Thanks to Dr. Peter Millett, one of the very gifted orthopedic surgeons at The Steadman Clinic in Vail, I had surgery just a few days later and was on the long road to recovery.

In April 2018, I returned to Boston happy and healthy. While the long recovery from surgery had resulted in my “starting from scratch” to get fit again, I was thrilled to be back and more determined than ever to get my 24th consecutive Boston Marathon finish. This time, it was the weather that was the challenge – with a heavy, relentless downpour of rain, temperatures in the 30s, and icy wind blasting off the Atlantic Ocean. But, with all my years of training in cold, snowy Colorado winters, I ran that race with a smile on my face and could not have been happier when I crossed the finish line!

Crossing the finish line of my 25th consecutive Boston Marathon in April 2019 – and becoming one of only 14 women to do so – was a thrill I will never forget. And, to make it even more special, that friend who encouraged me to put on my “tennis shoes” and go for a run back in 1990 was there with her daughter who was running her FIRST Boston Marathon!!

Through all these years of running the Boston Marathon, I’ve also had a special inspiration: raising funds to find a cure for multiple sclerosis. My sister, Yvonne, was diagnosed with MS when she was just 25 years old. Thanks to the generosity of many people, we’ve raised $142,000 for the National MS Society. While a cure is yet to be found, there have been many promising developments, and we are confident that a cure will be found.

In 2020, I was extremely honored and humbled to receive the “Inspirational” award from the Sportswomen of Colorado.

Final thoughts: Pursue your dreams and get out of your comfort zone!! You’re never too old (I was 32 years old when I went out for that first 17-minute run in 1990). And, now at the age of 62, I’m training for my 26th consecutive Boston Marathon AND my first Ironman triathlon (Lake Placid) in July (I used my rehab period following surgery in 2017 to start learning how to swim!).

To quote our dear friend, Ken Chlouber, founder of the Leadville Trail 100-Mile “Race Across the Sky” (a grueling endeavor where I learned how to handle extreme amounts of physical pain in crossing that finish line three times), “You’re better than you think you are, and you can do more than you think you can… NO LIMITS!!”

Proud Member of the Boston Marathon Quarter Century Club (159 members, including 14 women).

PROFESSIONAL: I serve as Chairman and CEO of The Steamboat Institute, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, non-partisan educational organization, which I co-founded with a small group of concerned citizens in 2008. The Steamboat Institute promotes America’s first principles and inspires active involvement in the defense of liberty.

Two pivotal events inspired the idea for The Steamboat Institute. In the mid-2000s, I heard talk radio host Laura Ingraham describe her recent speaking engagement at the Aspen Ideas Festival as being the “token conservative.” Then, in 2006, I graduated from the Leadership Program of the Rockies, an inspiring program which provides an immersion into America’s founding principles, taught by high-profile conservative thought and policy leaders from around the country. This sparked an idea: why couldn’t there be a “conservative alternative” to the Aspen Institute in Steamboat Springs?

The Steamboat Institute has grown from a small, local, all-volunteer organization into a nationally recognized leader in promoting liberty and prosperity. We have found that people have a tremendous desire to make a difference in their communities, their states, and our nation.

Steamboat Institute’s flagship event is our annual Freedom Conference & Festival, – a 2 ½ day gathering held in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, in late August – which draws a capacity audience from across America to hear from and mingle with high-profile conservative thought and policy leaders in government, military, education, media, journalism, entertainment, and business. The retreat-like setting in the Rocky Mountains – along with the small crowd size (limited to 350 lucky souls) – encourages collaboration and innovation among our speakers and guests on the important policy issues facing our nation. And, we’re pretty sure that we are the only public policy conference to include a scenic gondola ride to the keynote dinner at the top of a mountain, a margarita party, and an outdoor concert at the base of a ski hill!

The Freedom Conference draws national media attention, with coverage from C-Span, CNN and other news outlets. Speakers and entertainers for our past Freedom Conferences have included then-Congressman Mike Pence; former Vice President Dick Cheney and Liz Cheney; Interior Secretary David Bernhardt; Alan Dershowitz; NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine; Laura Ingraham; Dr. Ben Carson; Carly Fiorina; Mary Kissel, Jason Riley and James Taranto (The Wall Street Journal editorial board); Victor Davis Hanson; Steve Moore; Peter Brookes; Rep. Devin Nunes; author and Boston Marathon bombing survivor Rebekah Gregory; Charlie Kirk and Candace Owens of Turning Point USA; film producer and actor Kevin Sorbo; famed Irish tenor Anthony Kearns; the rock band “Madison Rising,” and many others.

We also host a nationwide tour of debates on college campuses, known as the Campus Liberty Tour. These debates attract large audiences of students, faculty and community members on both the left and the right to hear reasoned, respectful debates between high-profile speakers on hot-button issues. Our emphasis is on teaching students and all who attend how to think, not what to think.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Life is never a smooth road! In my running career, I’ve had many challenges (including finishing my 23rd consecutive Boston Marathon in 2017 with fractures in both legs). And, I have finished four 100-mile running races (including three finishes at the legendary Leadville Trail 100-Mile “Race Across the Sky.” Each of those finishes was a grueling effort (to finish under the 30-hour time limit), where you truly learn to dig deep into that inexhaustible well of grit and determination.

The running races are, of course, a metaphor for life…never giving up even when the odds seem insurmountable. This experience has served me well in leading the Steamboat Institute over the past twelve years. There are numerous challenges in leading a non-profit organization with a growing national presence, not the least of which is fundraising to allow us to fulfill our mission and expand our reach.

My advice is to pursue your dreams and get out of your comfort zone!! You’re never too old (I was 32 years old when I went out for that first 17-minute run in 1990). And, now at the age of 62, I’m training for my 26th consecutive Boston Marathon AND my first Ironman triathlon (Lake Placid) in July (I used my rehab period following surgery in 2017 to start learning how to swim!).

To quote my dear friend, Ken Chlouber, founder of the Leadville Trail 100-Mile “Race Across the Sky” (a grueling endeavor where I learned how to handle extreme amounts of physical pain in crossing that finish line three times), “You’re better than you think you are, and you can do more than you think you can… NO LIMITS!!”

So, as you know, we’re impressed with The Steamboat Institute – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of and what sets you apart from others.
On a personal level, I’m very proud of earning membership in the Boston Marathon Quarter Century Club, with 25 consecutive finishes from 1995 through 2019. Only 159 people have achieved this status, including 14 women. I’m also very proud of the obstacles I had to overcome, which I described earlier. It’s important to note that runners must meet a qualifying standard to run the Boston Marathon each year – in other words, you don’t just pay a registration fee and show up. You must earn the right to be there each and every year by running a qualifying time.

I’m known for being relentless and 100% dedicated in pursuit of my goals, whether it’s running a marathon or 100-mile race, learning how to swim at the age of 59 (while recovering from surgery for a tibial plateau fracture) so that I could start competing in triathlons, and founding the Steamboat Institute and growing it into a nationally respected leader in educating people on America’s founding principles.

The Steamboat Institute is known for hosting high quality, entertaining, professionally managed programs and debates, featuring speakers who are respected leaders nationally and globally. I’m also very proud that we have a reputation for being welcoming to people of all ideologies and for hosting robust but civilized debates. Real leadership is about persuasion. It’s bringing people around to your point of view – not by shouting them down but by showing them how it is in their best interest to see things the way you do.

Our 12th Annual Freedom Conference will be held on August 28-29, 2020, in Steamboat Springs. Registration details are available at steamboatinstitute.org.

Are there any apps, books, podcasts or other resources that you’ve benefited from using?
I’ve loved reading biographies of successful and influential people – from all walks of life – since I was in elementary school. I’m also a big believer in the wisdom and guidance found in the Bible. I find Joel Osteen very inspiring and listen to his program on a regular basis.

A personal favorite podcast is that of my friend, Rebekah Gregory, author and Boston Marathon bombing survivor. Rebekah and I became friends after I invited her to speak at our Steamboat Institute Freedom Conference in 2017. It was very meaningful to me since I was one of the fortunate runners who crossed the finish line in 2013 shortly before the bombs exploded. Rebekah nearly lost her life that day, and her 5-year-old son Noah miraculously escaped serious injury. After enduring dozens of surgeries to remove shrapnel from her body, including the amputation of her left leg below the knee, it would have been understandable if Rebekah retreated from life. Instead, she has become an inspiring speaker and author and founded a non-profit organization, Rebekah’s Angels, to provide counseling and support to children, and their families, who have suffered from traumatic events which cause post-traumatic stress disorder. I’m proud to serve on the Board of Directors of Rebekah’s Angels.

Contact Info:

• Website: steamboatinstitute.org/
• Phone: 970-846-6013
• Email: jsa@steamboatinstitute.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesteamboatinstitute/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jennifer.schubertakin
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/Steamboat_Inst
• Other: https://www.facebook.com/steamboatinstitute/

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