After discovering a passion for running in her early 30s, Jennifer Schubert-Akin recognized she had an opportunity to make a difference through her newfound love.

Schubert-Akin, now 66, ran her first marathon in 1993, later running in Dallas where she qualified for the Boston Marathon. In 1995, she took to the Boston Marathon start line. This is where she began a campaign for something much bigger than herself. 

Schubert-Akin started “Jennifer’s Run to Defeat MS,” which raises funds for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. In the mid-1980s, Schubert-Akin’s sister was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis at the age of 25. In November, her niece was also diagnosed with the disease just before Thanksgiving. 

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According to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, MS is “an unpredictable disease of the central nervous system that disrupts the flow of information within the brain, and between the brain and body.” Raising money for MS research is what inspired Schubert-Akin to run in ’95, but the fight didn’t stop there. 

To her surprise, her run in ’95 was fast enough to qualify again for the ’96 race, and the cycle has continued for 30 years. What began as a one-year challenge has turned into a 30-year adventure of running and raising money for multiple sclerosis research every April when the Boston Marathon comes around. 

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“I’ve had some amazing experiences going to the Boston Marathon that many consecutive years,” Schubert-Akin said. “It has become something that is a really meaningful part of my life and something that, when I was in my 20s, I never would have envisioned running one marathon let alone the Boston Marathon 30 times.” 

According to Schubert-Akin, maintaining this level of fitness year after year takes a consistent approach to training.

“I take training for this race very seriously with speed work, tempo runs and long runs,” she said. “I work on strength and conditioning in other ways too with swimming and cycling and things like that to cross-train and stay healthy. I definitely put in the work but I enjoy it.”

Schubert-Akin has pushed through a lot of adversity at the Boston Marathon including crossing the finish line just a handful of minutes before the 2013 bombing as well as dealing with a tibial plateau fracture while running in 2017, threatening her chance at the Boston Marathon Quarter Century Club.

Nevertheless, each year Schubert-Akin returned to America’s oldest platinum-level marathon in hopes of playing a role in helping more MS patients like her sister. By the end of Monday’s race, she will have recorded more than 786 miles at the Boston Marathon alone.

The years of MS research since Schubert-Akin’s sister was diagnosed have led to the development of new drugs, such as Kesimpta, which helps to slow the progression of the disease. Schubert-Akin says it is thanks to drugs like Kesimpta that have given her niece a much brighter future, in terms of MS, than her sister had. 

“Without the research, without these new drugs, there would be no hope,” Schubert-Akin said. 

Since 1995, Schubert-Akin’s campaign has raised more than $200,000 for the society. This year, she has raised $16,574, over halfway to her annual goal of $30,000.

“All the funds go directly to the National MS Society,” Schubert-Akin said. “I know they use it for good. I follow their work very closely, and I feel like they are an organization worth supporting because they really do plow the money into research and to supporting people with MS. They have been very supportive to my sister over the years.”