Run an Empire

I love running. I ran varsity track and cross country throughout high school, ran a half marathon my sophomore year of college, and one day soon I hope to train for a marathon. The only problem is that sometimes I lack the motivation to run on my own. I've got a pretty competitive mindset and I'd much rather be pushing myself to beat someone else, than just jogging along by myself.

I've tried apps like Map My Run before, and while they're great to measure distance and pace, something is missing. And then I heard about Run an Empire.

Run an Empire gamifies running by allowing you to capture territory, then defend it.  A runner successfully captures a territory by running the perimeter of it and then can strengthen his or her territory by running that perimeter multiple times. The territory can then be attacked by another runner in the area.

The project just got funded on Kickstarter, so it hasn't been fully developed yet, but I'm looking forward to the day it is. Making a behavior into a fun game reinforces it in peoples' lives, and with 69.2% of Americans classified as overweight, I think its safe to say we could definitely use a little more exercise.