I’ve been having a little trouble getting into the swing of my Madeira Island Ultra Trail training.

Not sure whether it’s the weather, my mindset or just general lethargy but I have done barely half the miles I did at this point last year and much less than I would want.

Motivation is a funny thing. I know that the less training I do, the worse MIUT will be. And considering I’ve paid for race entry, flights and hotels, you’d think I should at least be trying.

Anyway, I’ve found that if I can’t be motivated by the goal or impending 115k of pain, I can at least be motivated by money.

RunBet is an app on Android and IOS devices which essentially allows you to bet on completing a certain amount of runs.

If you complete the “game”, you get your money back PLUS a share of the money from anybody that failed to complete.

The games vary in length, duration/amounts of runs and pace so you can choose one that suits your level.

Since I joined at the beginning of November 2018, I’ve “made” US$21.38 on my initial bet of $40. Not a lot perhaps but since I run 4 times a week anyway, a 50% return in three months is pretty phenomenal?

I haven’t seen any banks offering that recently…

At this point, I do want to point out that I am in no way affiliated or associated with RunBet. I only heard about it because my girlfriend follows Anna Victoria on Instagram and she was running (I knew that pun would get in somewhere) a game.

Currently I’m signed up to the Fast and Furious game run by somebody called Kristine Steele (from KandidlyKristine??) which entails four 30 minute runs a week for four weeks and the pot size is currently $11,800. There is also one for people doing the London Marathon.

So if you’ve signed up for a race or just struggling to find your mojo, perhaps cold, hard cash could be the motivator you’ve been looking for?