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This story is part of 9to5mac\u2019s series celebrating Apple\u2019s 50th anniversary.<\/p>\n
April 1, 1976: 50 years ago, Apple was founded. 40 years later, to the date, I was a 25-year-old embarking on a health and fitness journey, and Apple was right at the core.<\/p>\n
April 1, 2016: I started an Apple Watch<\/a> workout streak that helped guide me to running. I\u2019d never run in my life at 25, but I started closing rings on my watch with a used elliptical at home. By fall, I was running, and by New Year\u2019s Day<\/a>, I had lost 50 pounds.<\/p>\n April 1, 2017: I ran my first-ever 5K race. It was the \u201c2017 Superintendent\u2019s 5K Challenge: A Race for Education\u201d in Miami, Florida. My 3.1-mile run time clocked in at 26 minutes 46 seconds with an 8-minute, 36-seconds pace per mile. I ranked 151 out of 2231<\/a> participants.<\/p>\n Apple Watch is a symbol for living a better day<\/p>\n Exercising with an elliptical to close my rings on the Apple Watch helped me get in shape and run my first mile. Getting comfortable running a mile pushed me to participate in that first 5K race.<\/p>\n Soon after, I was signing up for every 5K race I could find. 10K races followed, then half-marathon races<\/a>. I completed seven<\/a> of those 13.1-mile races<\/a> before the pandemic rolled around and I slowed down.<\/p>\n Lately, the urge to run has started to return. I ran a couple miles on Monday evening and that felt pretty good. <\/p>\n Maybe I\u2019ll keep it up and report back, but no promises. I\u2019m pretty satisfied with daily dog walks and longer adventures on weekends.<\/p>\n Still, Apple Watch and the Apple Health ecosystem keep me aware of my own well-being in a way that I just didn\u2019t consider before the watch arrived in April 2015.<\/p>\n The Apple Watch, to me, is a symbol for unlocking the ability to live a better day. What that means specifically may change throughout your life: from run tracking to sleep tracking<\/a> and everything in between.<\/p>\n Now, as Apple turns 50, it\u2019s their focus on health over the last decade that I feel most on a daily basis.<\/p>\n Apple Health is just getting started<\/p>\n It\u2019s not just the Apple Watch either. I log my weight and other data<\/a> with a smart scale that syncs to my iPhone. I\u2019m tracking my blood pressure<\/a> in the same way.<\/p>\n And reviewing all the data with the Health app on iPad is a great way to discover new insights and trends surfaced by Apple.<\/p>\n You also don\u2019t get the Apple Watch<\/a> without the iPhone, and you don\u2019t get the iPhone without the Mac.<\/p>\n The Mac and iPhone are where I regularly process my thoughts with the Journal app<\/a>, which has proven just as important as movement for me<\/a> recently.<\/p>\n A lot of life has happened for me between 25 and 35, and I\u2019m certain it would have been a whole lot harder without Apple\u2019s focus on health over a decade ago.<\/p>\n I feel stronger and more capable at 35 than I did at 25, and Apple\u2019s health and fitness technology has been key in making that possible.<\/p>\n As Apple turns 50 now, it\u2019s also impressive to think about what difference the company still had to make at 40.<\/p>\n You can\u2019t help but be excited for the future when you think about just how much of Apple\u2019s impact happened in the second half of its 50 years as a company.<\/p>\n \t\t FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/apple-watch-ultra-3-hero.webp.jpeg\")
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