Jeff Schmidt, known as "Jerkyleg," grew up in the small town of Rolla, Missouri, where he played soccer from age eight through high school. At 17, a kick to his lower leg during a game left him with a severely broken leg. Complications and a botched treatment left his right foot permanently mangled, ending his competitive soccer career — a loss he wasn't prepared to face.
The decade that followed brought surgery after surgery and round after round of therapy, all aimed at repairing his foot and ankle. In 2004, his wife Jenny and mother-in-law Sheryl suggested something he wasn't ready to hear: amputating his lower right leg. He was shocked and angry — he'd fought so hard to keep it. But his life was unraveling: he was battling dependency on pain medication, depression, and a growing inability to think clearly. It took three more years, and nearly losing his family, before he accepted that Jenny and Sheryl were right. In 2007, he checked into a Bay Area hospital, relieved to finally be rid of the thing tearing his life apart.
In 2009, Jenny suggested he join Team in Training's Ironteam, the triathlon squad she was already part of. She was training for a full Ironman — a 140.6-mile race combining a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike, and 26.2-mile run. He was nowhere near Ironman shape, but after some convincing from the team's coach, he signed on. His first attempt at the distance, in July 2010, didn't succeed — but the sport had hooked him. He rejoined the team the following season, training for Ironman Canada in Penticton, British Columbia, and crossed the finish line in 2011 in 16:46:11 — less than fourteen minutes before the cutoff.
The following year, Jeff was selected through the Physically Challenged Lottery for the 2012 Ironman World Championship — thrilled and terrified in equal measure. He felt strong heading in, but choppy water on the swim and brutal winds on the bike took their toll. With four miles left on the run, race officials warned him he wouldn't make the midnight cutoff. He kept going anyway, crossing the finish line at 12:25 a.m. — twenty-five minutes late.
GU Energy Labs staff, still at the finish line, noticed his effort. A few weeks later, GU president and COO Tal Johnson invited him to company headquarters in Berkeley, California, to discuss an idea: returning to Kona to finish what he'd started, this time as an official finisher — and raising money for a good cause along the way. Jeff thought immediately of the Challenged Athletes Foundation, which had given him a running leg in 2011. GU, passionate about helping kids, partnered with him on the "Challenge for Kids" fundraiser, and he earned an invitation to the 2013 Ironman World Championship.
Four days before the race, Jeff felt a cramp in one calf and thought little of it — he'd had minor cramps there before. He didn't realize he'd partially torn the muscle. The tear seized up violently around mile 30 of the bike leg, causing excruciating pain. Drawing on mental training with sports psychologist and friend Nicole Bueno, he pushed through and finished the bike course. But when he switched to his running leg, he couldn't take a single step without searing pain. He swapped to his everyday walking leg and tried to walk the marathon instead — but had to pull out after ten miles.
The finish he'd pictured didn't happen that day, but something remarkable did: the Challenge for Kids fundraiser, with a goal of $50,000, raised nearly $80,000 for physically challenged young athletes worldwide — funding running legs, hand cycles, racing chairs, and other adaptive equipment they couldn't otherwise afford.
Two unsuccessful tries at Kona haven't stopped Jeff. He's determined to return to the Ironman World Championship and finish — before midnight, this time. In the meantime, he keeps taking on new challenges: he completed the 2014 Boston Marathon despite a painful skin infection at the end of his leg stump, and planned to race the 2014 Ironman Arizona that November. "I want to thank my family, and especially my wife, Jenny. The support they've given me is like none other. I thank God every day that my family never gave up on me, even when I had given up on myself," Jeff says.
Jeff fundraises for the Challenged Athletes Foundation — learn more at www.challengedathletes.org. He's always looking for the next challenge, working to inspire others to take on challenges of their own. Learn more about Jeff at www.jerkyleg.com.