This story is part of cyberstorehut’s series celebrating Apple’s 50th anniversary.
April 1, 1976: Fifty years ago, Apple was founded. Fast forward to today, 40 years later, and I was a 25-year-old embarking on a health and fitness journey, and Apple was at the center of it all.
April 1, 2016: I started tracking my workouts on my Apple Watch, which led me to running. I was 25 years old and had never run before, but I started ringing my watch on a used elliptical I had at home. By fall I started running and by New Year’s Day I had lost 50 pounds.
April 1, 2017: I ran my first 5K race. It was the 2017 Superintendent’s 5K Challenge: A Race for Education held in Miami, Florida. My 3.1 mile run time was 26 minutes and 46 seconds, giving me a pace of 8 minutes and 36 seconds per mile. I was ranked 151st out of 2231 participants.
Apple Watch is a symbol for a better day
Working out on the elliptical to close the ring on my Apple Watch helped me get in shape and run my first mile. Being able to run a mile comfortably led me to run my first 5K race.
Soon after, I signed up for every 5K race I could find. A 10K race followed, followed by a half marathon race. He completed seven of the 13.1-mile races before the pandemic slowed him down.
Lately, my urge to run has started to return. I ran a few miles on Monday night and it felt great.
Maybe I’ll continue like this and report again, but I can’t make any promises. I’m pretty happy with my daily dog walks and long weekend adventures.
Still, the Apple Watch and the Apple Health ecosystem have made me conscious of my health in ways I never thought possible before the watch arrived in April 2015.
For me, the Apple Watch symbolizes unlocking my ability to have a better day. What that specifically means can change throughout your life, from running tracking to sleep tracking and everything in between.
As Apple celebrates its 50th anniversary, what I’m most impressed with each day is the company’s focus on health over the past decade.
Apple Health is just getting started
It’s not just the Apple Watch. I use a smart scale that syncs with my iPhone to track my weight and other data. I also measure my blood pressure in the same way.
Seeing all your data in the Health app on your iPad is also a great way to discover new insights and trends surfaced by Apple.
You also don’t get an Apple Watch without an iPhone, and you don’t get an iPhone without a Mac.
I regularly use the Journal app on my Mac and iPhone to process my thoughts. Lately, I’ve found that the Journal app is just as important to me as movement.
I had a lot of life to live between the ages of 25 and 35, and I have no doubt that it would have been a lot harder if Apple hadn’t focused on my health more than a decade ago.
I feel stronger and more capable at 35 than I did at 25. Apple health and fitness technology is the key to making that possible.
As Apple celebrates its 50th anniversary, it’s also impressive to think about how much of a difference the company still had to make at 40 years old.
Considering how influential Apple has been in the last half of its 50 years as a company, we can’t wait to see what the future holds.
