Dog Takes 7th Place In Half Marathon She Didn’t Know She Was Running

A dog did what she did best — follow her nose, that is — and wound up taking 7th place in a half marathon that she didn’t even realize she was competing in, MSN is reporting.

Ludivine is a 2-year-old bloodhound from Elkmont, Alabama, who lives with her human, April Hamlin. Like she does every day, April let her dog out to “do her business” Saturday morning. When Ludivine didn’t return right away, April wasn’t surprised. Being a hound dog, Ludivine is curious and likes to find new things and generally see what’s going on. And since Elkmont is a small town where everybody knows everybody, she wasn’t concerned about Ludivine getting lost or having anything bad happen to her.

Somehow, Ludivine made her way to the starting point for the Elkmont Trackless Train Trek Half Marathon, a half marathon run largely on an abandoned train route. Other runners noticed her but figured she was just a neighborhood dog seeing what was going on.

Dog goes outside to do her “business,” finishes 7th in a half-marathon: https://t.co/D6VN0f16Oo pic.twitter.com/FabZnpkWRx

— Eyewitness News (@ABC7NY) January 26, 2016

Runner Tim Horvath noticed the dog, according to Sport Act, but thought nothing of her.

“I saw her for the first time in the parking lot before the race. She came bouncing up, and I petted her on the head. I saw her collar, so I just figured she was somebody’s dog. Elkmont is a small town where everyone knows everybody, so it didn’t strike me as unusual.”

Once the race began and the racers started running, the dog apparently figured she had nothing better to do, and she began following the runners.

She wasn’t entirely professional about the half marathon, however. Rather than keeping to the course, Ludivine took detours here and there. After all, there are rabbits, streams, other dogs – all things that any dog worth her salt would have to check out. But she always made it back to the race course, where she (literally) ran circles around the other runners.

“One time she went over and met another dog next to the course. Later on, she went into a field with some mules and cows. Then she’d come back and run around our legs. I wondered if she was going to get tired or go back to wherever her home was.”

Runner Jim Clemens also watched Ludivine come and go from the course at will.

“Every time I thought she had dropped off to go back home, I would hear her coming back up to me, and she would race past me up to the two leaders. She would run off to romp through streams and into yards to sniff around for a while.”

Near the end of the half marathon, Ludivine started to get tired and had slowed her pace to an easy trot. Still, she crossed the finish line with an official time of 1:32:56 – good enough for 7th place! She calmly posed for pictures while race officials put a medal on her.

This dog ran away from home to join a half-marathon and came in SEVENTH https://t.co/SRJCeMkj3g pic.twitter.com/kbw9Mq0pri

— Daily Mail US (@DailyMail) January 25, 2016

Eventually, Ludivine made her way back to her owner, April, who admitted that she was surprised that her dog completed a half marathon – she’s usually “pretty lazy,” says April.

As it turns out, once Ludivine’s story went national, it brought some attention to a little town that could use a break. The half marathon is designed to raise money for the local school district’s Cross Country program.

“They wanted to try and fundraise because our school system doesn’t have a ton of money for cross-country. Because of this dog, they are getting so much publicity, and I think that’s the best part.”

It is not clear, as of this writing, if Ludivine the dog will participate in next year’s half marathon, or if she’s training to finish better than 7th place.

[Image via Facebook]