Might get downvoted but I don’t care - you’re not overweight at all so I don’t really get why your time is that slow unless you have an injury or medical condition. As a former college athlete you should easily be able to push yourself and run a 5k in the low 30’s with some discomfort.

What is your fastest mile time? As a beginner I lowered my 5k time from above 30 to under 24 running just 15-20 miles a week. Do not listen to fatsos here who can’t do anything but ‘easy mileage’- you need to push yourself in your workouts if you want athletic results and get that heart rate between 145-160 for at least 10-15 minutes.

This is going to be icing on the top for people who think I’m trolling or being an idiot, but before you run watch ‘Workout Wednesdays’ from FloTrack on YouTube. Watching runners at the top of their game is way more motivating then reading Reddit comments.