Meet Jennifer Ashley!

What do you do when you're scared?

I sing primary songs when I'm racing and scared. I learned to swim after a life guard fished me out of the deep end at the local pool, I was dared by my brothers to jump off the high dive. My parents decided I should join the swim team that year. (We could only afford one year, thus ended my swim future.) So I have this love/fear relationship with water. I competed in the USTA world championship In Sweden as a member of TeamUSA, it was extremely cold and the swim on the international long distance races is actually longer than the ironman. So there we are swimming, it's freezing cold and I'm sing Primary songs in my head. They're the worst renditions ever... because I sing them to my pace. Throughout the swim, they got slower and slower with a lot of slurring, but it was such a comfort no matter where I am or how hard it is... the gospel is true.

Share one of your most embarrassing moments:

I almost kissed someone at church that wasn't my husband. In America, we have a comfort zone of about 2-3 feet. Most people, especially members of the opposite sex, keep this distance. One Sunday, I was talking to someone and this dark suit was less than a foot away behind me, listening over my shoulder, Mike's height and built, so when my conversation ended I turned to kiss "Mike." Yahaaa! That was close. I don't think this person even knows, but I was dying. No more kissing at church for me.

You are given twenty million dollars and ten years to live...how would you spend it?

I would continue to expand Feed the Need. I would like to have more races and spend less time worrying about budgets. It's amazing to help others. We just delivered over 2,000 pounds of produce to food pantries during the Christmas week. Missy and I dropped off 1,250 pounds of potatoes, onions and carrots on Saturday. On Monday, when we came back with fruit, the previous produce was gone. Tuesday, I dropped off cans from a office food drive... there was no fruit left. There is such a need and I would devote my time and fortune on it for both the giver and the receiver.

What's your favorite way to spend the weekend?

Outdoors, I love seeing the Lord's creations. It's a step out of time, something that anyone may have experienced in any dispensation. My father enjoyed creating pen and ink drawings, especially trees. It's a mutual love; I enjoy an interesting tree. I can stop in full stride to admire a great tree, brook, rock formation, smell grapes, etc.

What's the most beautiful thing you've ever seen?

The human body. The Lord is an amazing creator. My anatomy/physiology/pathology classes brought this awareness to me in full force. There are so many systems in the body and their complex interactions allow us a mortal life that's mind boggling. I love to see a happy toddler running around; is there anything more perfect or beautiful.

What's a "Fun Fact" about you?

I started running while living here. I wanted to have another child, Mike discussed three concerns he had: find a doctor that would take me (high risk/blood clots), bigger car (we wouldn't fit in our sedan) and better shape (no comment.) I started reading up on the fastest ways in to get in shape, I'm sure I did more research than the grocery store check out headlines. But, there it was..."Running, fastest way to get in shape." I remembered Amy Openshaw ran in college, so I called her and asked if she wanted to run with me. I called several women in the ward directory and Linda Erickson was the only taker. Amy suckered Diane Nielsen into coming. So the four of us went over our schedules to see what time would work. My mouth hit the floor when THEY came up with 5:30 am. I'd never seen 5:30 in the morning, I'd seen 5:30 am pulling an all-nighter, but IN THE MORNING... no way. I had to eat crow if I wanted this... so three times a week we met at the ward building before seminary to run. I'm sure it's not lost on anyone, myself included, that I was and still am, significantly heavier than any one or three of them combined. With that stated, I did see the most improvements in weight loss and inches. It was a great time in my life. I could not have asked for better company. I went on to met a wonderful doctor. I left the car in the Lord's hands; I remember praying, "I've done all that I can." Mike's grandmother passed away and left us a minivan, it turns out I was two months pregnant then.

What is your home town?

Every year on our birthday, we would hear about the day of our birth. My father would start with.... "Your mother let me know with no doubt that it was time to go to the hospital. I ran out to the car and it wouldn't start (my father had a love affair with old, junky cars that never worked, I think it made him feel needed), so I woke your uncle up. He lived in the rabbit hutches too." "What rabbit hutches, Dad?" "Why, married student housing at BYU." My only memories of my childhood are of Indiana, but I have a birth certificate that says Provo, UT on it. Wait, does that make me a Utah Morman?