PASADENA, Calif. — Country music star Jelly Roll is celebrating a fitness milestone and motivation to continue a healthier lifestyle.
On Tuesday, the Grammy-nominated star, who this year won two iHeartRadio Music Awards and three CMT Music Awards, made good on his pledge to take part in the 2 Bears 5K with comedians Bert Kreischer and Tom Segura at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.
Getting to the event was a journey in itself that required daily exercise and training. What started out as a joke became a real motivator, Jelly Roll said afterward.
Related: Country music star has dropped 70 pounds, wants to drop 100 more
“It really did. Me and Bert got really emotional at the finish line. I couldn’t walk a mile when I started trying to do this back in January,” Jelly Roll, 39, told Entertainment Tonight. “I feel really, really good about it. I left here feeling really motivated.”
The 2 Bears 5K was presented by the Netflix is a Joke comedy festival and tied to Kreischer and Segura’s “2 Bears, 1 Cave” podcast. After the comedians put out the call for listeners and celebrities to participate in the race, Jelly Roll, whose birth name is Jason Bradley DeFord, agreed to do so in January.
He reinforced that pledge with a post to Instagram in January, shortly after that podcast appearance.
“This message is for Bert Kreischer and Tom Segura. Somebody let them know I’m in for the 5k in May. … . I’m ready to go. Anyone wanna join me?” he said.
In April, he told People magazine that his daily exercise was making a difference. He said he was feeling healthier and estimated then he might have lost as much as 70 pounds.
“I’ve been really kicking ass, man,” he said. “I’m doing two to three miles a day, four to six days a week. I’m doing 20 to 30 minutes in the sauna, six minutes in a cold plunge every day. I’m eating healthy right now.”
Jelly Roll’s wife, Bunnie XO, cheered her husband on Instagram with a video in which she splashed into a cool bath with her husband as he recovered after the event.
“What a beautiful day w/ beautiful ppl! So proud of my baby doing the 5k & losing 50 lbs to do it!” she wrote on Instagram.