Dog Accidentally Takes Part In Half-Marathon, Finishes 7th – Dogs Stories

Dogs are awesome, and they can make great running companions if you have the right breed. If you run any races, you may have seen some dogs running with their owners, and ᴏᴅᴅs are those owners who know their dogs are by their sides. But what happens if you go running a half-marathon without your dog? Sometimes dogs find a way to join you anyway, and they may even put a few people training for months for these long-distance runs to shame.


Back in January 2016, a woman named April Hamlin let her two-year-old Bloodhound Ludivine out to use the bathroom. April didn’t realize it at the time, but a race was starting nearby: the Elkmont Trackless Train Half Marathon. Ludivine saw all the runners lining up, and she decided she wanted to join in the fun.

And so, Ludivine crawled underneath the fence in her backyard. Then, she ran out into the road and joined the half-marathon!
Ludivine ran the entire 13.1-mile half-marathon. All the runners who saw her thought it was hilarious, and they encouraged her to keep going. Ludivine did sometimes go off on her own adventures.
She reportedly went off track numerous times, even stopping to play with a herd of cows and sniff a ᴅ.ᴇ.ᴀ.ᴅ rabbit at the two-mile point. But none of this stopped Ludivine from coming in 7th place in just over an hour and a half.

She was given a medal for her efforts, and her owner, April Hamlin, couldn’t have been more surprised. I mean, imagine wondering where your dog has run off to and then discovering it had ᴄᴏᴍᴘᴇᴛᴇd in a half marathon. It’s safe to say, she was pretty surprised.


My first reaction was that I was ᴇᴍʙᴀʀʀᴀssᴇᴅ and worried that she had possibly gotten in the way of the other runners.

“My first reaction was that I was embarrassed and worried that she had possibly gotten in the way of the other runners. She’s laid back and friendly, so I can’t believe she ran the whole half marathon because she’s actually really lazy,” April told Runner’s World.

She’s laid back and friendly, so I can’t believe she ran the whole half marathon because she’s actually really lazy. Perhaps Ludivine was so lazy because she was conserving her energy for the big race
Photos of Ludivine running went viral around the world. Everyone was amazed by the way the dog accidentally joined a race. People were also amazed to hear how well she did.
“Her owner doesn’t even run! That’s what makes the story even better,” race director Gretta Armstrong told.

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