A bloodhound accidentally completed an entire half marathon and finished seventh after being let outside by her owner to go to the toilet.

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Now, I’ll admit: there are some lazy days where the only exercise I do is getting up and down to go to the bathroom. However, for this dog, she clearly saw that as a challenge.

Ludivine was let into the yard by her owner, April Hamlin, on January 16, 2016, but instead of quickly returning home, she wandered off and found herself among runners taking part in the Elkmont Half-Marathon.

When the race started, Ludivine set off with them.

She then completed the full 13.1-mile course in a time of 1:32:56, placing seventh overall out of 165 finishers.

“All I did was open the door, and she ran the race of her own accord,” Hamlin, who was 43 at the time, told Runner’s World.

Ludivine’s performance was made even more impressive by the fact that she wasn’t exactly focused solely on racing.

During the course, she reportedly stopped at around the two-mile mark to sniff a dead rabbit and also left the route to investigate a stream and play with cows in a nearby field.

She still managed to keep returning to the race.

Jim Clemens, who finished fourth, recalled repeatedly thinking Ludivine had finally abandoned her unexpected half marathon, only for the bloodhound to reappear.

“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 the streams and into yards to sniff around for a while.”

Ludivine eventually crossed the finish line in just over an hour and a half and was even given a medal for her efforts.

Hamlin wasn’t there watching her dog’s surprise performance unfold and only discovered what Ludivine had been doing when friends volunteering at the event began sending her messages and photographs.

It wasn’t completely out of character for the bloodhound to head off exploring on her own.

Hamlin said Ludivine had previously wandered to a nearby school looking for her two “kids”.

“She is a wonderful pet, but she does like to sniff around when she’s out of the house. She used to come to the school to find her two ‘kids’ at the playground and the school secretary would call me and I’d take her home…so, that’s when I started keeping her up more.”

Even with Ludivine’s history of exploring, her owner was surprised she had the stamina to complete 13.1 miles.

“She’s laid back and friendly, so I can’t believe she ran the whole half marathon because she’s actually really lazy,” Hamlin said.

Ludivine’s unplanned appearance came during the inaugural running of the event, with proceeds going towards the cross-country and track and field teams at nearby Elkmont High School.

Sadly, according to the race’s official Facebook page, it appears as if the event was cancelled amid the pandemic, and is yet to make a return. Fingers crossed we’ll see runners (and dogs) return in the near future.

Maybe Ludivine can go for a PB?

Featured image credit: WorldManual (Created with AI to help illustrate this story)