Jelly Roll Runs 5K After Not Being Able to Walk 1 Mile

Jelly Roll is feeling good after running his first 5K after having some trouble at the start of his training.

“I couldn’t walk a mile when I started trying to do this back in January,” Jelly Roll, 39, said to Entertainment Tonight on Tuesday, May 7. “So the fact that we got 3-point-whatever it was, got it down, I felt really, really good about it.”

Jelly Roll (real name Jason DeFord) ran the 2 Bears 5K at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. The event was hosted by the “2 Bears 1 Cave” podcast duo Tom Segura and Bert Kreischer as part of the Netflix Is a Joke comedy festival. Jelly Roll ran alongside Segura and Kreischer in the race.

The country singer confessed that he felt “really motivated” when he crossed the finish line and even “got really emotional” with Kreischer once they were done.

“I feel great, I’m a little tired,” Jelly Roll admitted. “It was a little bit harder than I thought it was [going to be], but it’s awesome, man.”

While he was training for the race, Jelly Roll confessed that he lost “like 50 to 70-something pounds.” During the run, the musician shared how touched he was when people came up to him to cheer him on.

“I think the coolest thing is how many people stopped to tell us that they were motivated by us, other big guys,” he shared. “It was just really cool to see that.”

Jelly Roll has been on a fitness journey this year as he geared up for the 5K. While he wasn’t concerned about finishing in first place, his main goal was to complete the course.

“I don’t know if ‘running’ is going to be the word, but I’m definitely going to get the 3.1 miles done — probably a brisk power walk,” he said in a February interview with People about his plan. “My goal is to be able to do a 15-minute mile.”

As Jelly Roll has focused on his well-being, he subsequently left social media. His wife, Bunnie Xo shared that he decided to take a break from the internet because he was getting cyberbullied.

“My husband got off the internet because he is so tired of being bullied about his f—king weight. And, like, that makes me want to cry because he is the sweetest angel baby,” Bunnie Xo, 44, (real name Alyssa DeFord) said during a clip from an April episode of her “Dumb Blonde” podcast shared via her TikTok page. “My husband doesn’t show it to you guys, but I’m gonna have a very vulnerable moment here — it hurts him.”