Uh, and I, I'm sure, again, you don't remember a lot of this, but from what you know, talk about what it turned out you were facing.

Yeah.

I, so I had CPR on site.

I had multiple AED shocks to get my heart started again, and then once I got into the ambulance, had several more AED shocks on my way to the hospital.

Um, when your heart goes into V-tach, it, in my case, it was kind of this runaway train.

You have an interruption to the electrical pulse in your heart, but then you also have an injury to your heart because it's had this, this shock event.

And so when my heart would start back up, it would have to contend with, um, both the, the electrical interruption, but then also the shock that it had been through.

Jennie, what was the condition that you had that led to this cardiac arrest event, and how long had you had it?

Terms and conditions apply.

You're right.

I'm trying to be slower than I'm comfortable with in like letting a lot come in and have some time to like not just process my own circumstances, but I don't know if this is exactly related, but you touched on something that felt really important to me and really resonated.

It's like there is this really big sensational news of like this Olympic runner now can't run.

I can talk to you about that, and I'm not a basket case.

Like I realize like this is what's happening, and – I will find a way to move forward because for heaven's sakes, like, I have my life.

Like, praise God, I have my life.

other when

How, how, how convicted are you in your faith and in, and in your belief?

Exactly.

And in that, one of the things that has been confusing to me, and like I said, you know, you have this, like, idea of what something like this might be like, and then it's shattered.

You know, I had people who really love me and have loved me a long time in that room and, and coaching me through, you know, every 30 minutes, you know, my loops of, "Where am I? What happened to me? How can I help? You guys are doing a great job." You know, I, I, I had my husband.

I had my family.

I had, um, colleagues that love me and care about me.

There's only two voices that I remember while I was in those five days in the ICU, and so, so I, so I'm gonna jump forward.

And, you know, it's difficult when something derails your life or sidelines you, uh, in a way that you didn't expect and prevents you from operating as usual or being able to do the things that make you feel like you.

And, uh, thanks for being here.

Hello, everybody.

I'm Jenny Simpson, and I got invited to this yesterday.

I am absolutely 100% the party crasher, but I am now the chief running officer at Fleet Feet, um, which is a very wonderfully ambiguous role, which means I kinda get to make whatever I want out of it.

Um, but no, it's amazing.

I get to just champion everything that we're doing here today and the way that Fleet Feet shows up to make experiences like this amazing for you in their retail stores, but also all across the country at events and expos.

So I am dressed like I work in an expo because I did today.

[laughs]

So the one question I have for you, when did you realize that you, you had a level of business acumen that you wanted to take with you after you were done with the sport?

Well, I'll go a little bit further back and then I will answer your question.

But I think, um, I think I was fortunate that from a young age, I kind of cared a lot about waking up in the morning and saying, "Today is gonna be a good day." And that has been, that has been so important in everything that I've done in my life, is like projecting that into the future is gonna be a positive outcome.

Um, and especially now as we have, um, such...

I mean, my heart breaks for so many young, young people, and particularly young girls, because I can relate to that, young girls that have so much trouble with anxiety, and like what can we do to help young people, um, look at the world and their, their little, their l- smaller world and their circumstances, and how can we, um, rewrite the story and have them waking up in the morning saying, "Today is gonna be a good day." Um, so anyway, so that's, that's, that's that.

Um, I think, I think there was one...

There, there was one kind of moment in my career.

What was behind this? Did they reach out? Did you reach out? And what did it take to bring this to life? And what's it like to work alongside a company, who I've had the privilege of working with recently, that is clearly just so focused on growth in a beautiful way that you'd never expect a running shoe store chain to, to be invested in?