She’s actually really lazy
January 23, 2016 6:02 PM   Subscribe

Ludivine, a two-and-a-half-year-old hound dog, was let out of the house in Elkmont, Alabama, to do her business. Prone to roaming around town at will, Ludivine snuck out of the backyard and made her way to the starting area of the inaugural Trackless Train Trek Half Marathon about a quarter mile away. Ludivine proceeded to mingle with the runners, run the entire 13.1-mile course, cross the finish line in an unofficial 1:32:56, and have a medal draped over her floppy brown ears—all without her owner, April Hamlin, realizing she had wandered off in the first place.
posted by mama casserole (47 comments total) 94 users marked this as a favorite
 
Four legs good! Two legs baaad!
posted by loquacious at 6:09 PM on January 23, 2016 [9 favorites]


This was a fun story. I wonder how far the dog actually ran with all her side trips and looping forward and back. I also wonder, once she got home, how long she slept and how long it was before she left the house again.
posted by not that girl at 6:11 PM on January 23, 2016 [28 favorites]


Ludivine stopped to investigate a dead rabbit around the 2-mile mark.

And yet Ludivine still finished 7th. Not too shabby for a bandit runner!
posted by bawanaal at 6:12 PM on January 23, 2016 [11 favorites]


My PR half is more than 20 minutes slower, after months and months of training.

Well done, dog. I would like to challenge you someday.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 6:15 PM on January 23, 2016 [7 favorites]


I wish I was as lazy as this dog.
posted by jacquilynne at 6:15 PM on January 23, 2016 [61 favorites]


awwww... love those stories...
posted by ph00dz at 6:16 PM on January 23, 2016


Oh, you ran a marathon?
posted by Wolfdog at 6:17 PM on January 23, 2016 [105 favorites]


What a champ!

We should make more monuments to dogs so that later visitors will appreciate what our civilization has accomplished.
posted by grobstein at 6:19 PM on January 23, 2016 [26 favorites]


Whose a "bad" dog? You are! Yes you are! Here's the "bad dog" medal, you "bad" dog. (Rubs dog belly)
posted by eriko at 6:24 PM on January 23, 2016 [26 favorites]


This was a great story to open my morning Metafilter perusing with. Thanks for posting it!
posted by snwod at 6:25 PM on January 23, 2016 [1 favorite]


If it makes you feel better, it appears she may actually have trained for the race:
Although it Ludivine's first race to run from start to finish, the 75-pound bloodhound is well-known among the running community in Elkmont. Hamlin said she frequently joins runners on a trail near their home in Elkmont and the family will have to pick up Ludivine somewhere down the trail.

“She will often run with people on that Rails to Trails course,” said Hamlin. “She is actually very lazy and clumsy. She can run a marathon, but can't jump into our van. She is a laid-back dog.”
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 6:25 PM on January 23, 2016 [35 favorites]


“It’s the first half marathon in Elkmont, and the people who started it are parents of the kids who run cross country,” Hamlin said. “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.”

Aw, double-heartwarming.
posted by bleep at 6:26 PM on January 23, 2016 [34 favorites]


Ludivine is a pretty great name.
posted by Wolfdog at 6:30 PM on January 23, 2016 [18 favorites]


This is a great story. Helpful dog is helpful and deserves her medal!

(Though if my dog disappeared for enough time to run a half marathon I would be FREAKING OUT)
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 6:31 PM on January 23, 2016 [6 favorites]


Oh, you ran a marathon?
posted by Wolfdog


Ehuskysterical?
posted by lalochezia at 6:36 PM on January 23, 2016 [20 favorites]


Hounds will typically run for miles off-leash - a challenge when you have to keep them on-leash. It's a significant problem in hunting country, when they either can't or don't find their way back to their owners in time to go home.
posted by mmiddle at 6:37 PM on January 23, 2016 [3 favorites]


What a fun story! I love the last set of pictures in the article, where she's loping across the finish line and then posing with her medal like a champ.

We should make more monuments to dogs so that later visitors will appreciate what our civilization has accomplished.

I, for one, welcome our medal-wearing, marathon-running, hound dog overlords.
posted by litera scripta manet at 7:01 PM on January 23, 2016 [14 favorites]


Dogs are so freakin great.
posted by bongo_x at 7:10 PM on January 23, 2016 [15 favorites]


I love it when animals are visibly and verifiably happy. That's one happy dog. I want to scritch her big floppy ears.
posted by mudpuppie at 7:12 PM on January 23, 2016 [26 favorites]


I think all half marathons should require a stop to investigate something after two miles.
posted by eriko at 7:25 PM on January 23, 2016 [32 favorites]


I would love for running races to include trained adorable dog pacers. I used to run with my dog as a teen, and it definitely taps into some weird deep primal boy-and-his-dog pack hunting feelings. Damn. I really hope I get to have a dog again someday.
posted by Jon Mitchell at 7:39 PM on January 23, 2016 [14 favorites]


Ha, my dog would lie down in the middle of the track and be greatly offended that the runners didn't stop to admire her greatness. My dog gets offended easily. She's super mad at our snow blower right now, just because it's in our driveway and it. Does not. Belong there.
posted by Ruki at 7:40 PM on January 23, 2016 [8 favorites]


Canine Pentathlon: 1) Run a half marathon with stops to: 2) investigate a dead rabbit, 3) sniff other dogs' butts, 4) check out some cows, and 5) do your business.
posted by Naberius at 7:40 PM on January 23, 2016 [9 favorites]


We have hound dogs, but when they get loose, they tend to just keep going.
posted by wormwood23 at 7:41 PM on January 23, 2016 [1 favorite]


Maybe Ludivine could run the next Maryland Half Marathon with Dozer?
posted by superna at 8:06 PM on January 23, 2016 [5 favorites]


Two year olds have so much energy.
posted by MexicanYenta at 8:08 PM on January 23, 2016 [2 favorites]


That would have been a great story if I hadn't had a Microsoft Band ad pop up ove rit every single goddamn time I wanted to scroll down a little more on my tablet.
posted by mephron at 8:29 PM on January 23, 2016 [2 favorites]


You aint nothin but a hound dog
Running all the time
You aint nothin but a hound dog
Running all the time
Ok, you won a medal
And you made siixth equal time

They said you was high class
But you're only two years old
They said you were high class
But you're only two years old
Here, sniff a dead rabbit
And cross that finish line!


Thank you, thank you vury much.
posted by Thella at 8:29 PM on January 23, 2016 [21 favorites]


"You run? I run too."
"You still running? I still run too."
"We running! I run good, yes?"
"Run, run, run!"
"I win? Yay! We run more?"
posted by xingcat at 8:34 PM on January 23, 2016 [35 favorites]


For a moment that dog was a part of the biggest pack of his life, going on the best walkies ever, and everything was perfect.
posted by dazed_one at 8:47 PM on January 23, 2016 [122 favorites]


Fun post mama casserole! Thanks!
posted by futz at 8:59 PM on January 23, 2016


Ludivine is clearly A Good Girl
posted by dismas at 9:02 PM on January 23, 2016 [3 favorites]


I'm glad this dog got home. Most stories about lost dogs (or cats) let out to to do their business end differently. Actually I'm kind of upset about how this story starts.
posted by Bistle at 9:19 PM on January 23, 2016 [3 favorites]


I love hounds. Mine is the laziest goddamn dog until the second you take his leash off, then he's gone. They will run for forever.

Pretty sure that's how he ended up in the shelter I adopted him from.
posted by bradbane at 9:32 PM on January 23, 2016


Ha, my dog would lie down in the middle of the track and be greatly offended that the runners didn't stop to admire her greatness. My dog gets offended easily. She's super mad at our snow blower right now, just because it's in our driveway and it. Does not. Belong there.

Ruki, I hate to break it to you, but your dog is a cat. 😉
posted by mistersquid at 10:15 PM on January 23, 2016 [36 favorites]


Ludivine is a pretty great name.

This is what I think of when seeing the name Ludivine. I've seen it in person and it made me fall in love with Edwin Holgate on the spot. It's like gasp-out-loud gorgeous.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 12:00 AM on January 24, 2016 [10 favorites]


This was a fun story. I wonder how far the dog actually ran with all her side trips and looping forward and back.

Friend of mine put an old phone with Runkeeper on his dog and went for a trail run with the dog off the leash. My friend ran 7km, the dog ran 12.5km. So possibly, Ludivine ran close to a marathon and still finished 7th.
posted by girlgenius at 1:23 AM on January 24, 2016 [10 favorites]


This is delightful. He looks so proud with his well-earned medal.
posted by nerdfish at 5:15 AM on January 24, 2016 [1 favorite]


I'm pretty sure my border collie would tell you her greatest achievement was that one time finding a big slice of chocolate birthday cake in the grass beside the road.

"Comparisons may be odious," she'd likely say, "but you can't eat a medal."
posted by Short Attention Sp at 5:45 AM on January 24, 2016 [16 favorites]


Ludivine stopped to investigate a dead rabbit around the 2-mile mark.

And yet Ludivine still finished 7th. Not too shabby for a bandit runner!
posted by bawanaal at 9:12 PM on January 23


Yeah, but you know the old country saying: If the dog hadn't stopped to shit, he'd'a caught the rabbit!
posted by magstheaxe at 5:58 AM on January 24, 2016 [1 favorite]


Yeah, what really impresses me about her story is her running time! I just keep remembering the time my dad (age 45 at the time) and a friend of mine (age 25 at the time) were both running in the same marathon. Friend finished in an hour and 20 minutes, DadFreedom finished at 2 and a half hours. This means that Ludevine runs as fast as a 25-year-old police officer who trains for marathons on the regular.
posted by chainsofreedom at 6:49 AM on January 24, 2016 [1 favorite]


I like to think that Ludivine just meandered on home afterwards with a running medal around her neck.
posted by oneirodynia at 2:29 PM on January 24, 2016 [8 favorites]


I wanted to make some troll posts about race fraud and the dog short cutting the track in a car or whatever but I didn't have the heart. But yeah the fraudsters are all the more odious for casting even a hint of shadow over inspirational feats like this.
posted by grobstein at 3:10 PM on January 24, 2016


I just wish I was Ludivine
posted by mumimor at 3:31 PM on January 24, 2016 [1 favorite]


I have a hound who mostly lays on the couch, but when I take her to the park at the beach runs with the joggers and swims in the ocean. She. Will. Not. Stop. I come home with a sand and salt encrusted 100 lb beast who sleeps for a day.

Life in Florida is hard. Rosey thinks so.
posted by syncope at 4:20 PM on January 24, 2016


Fenton! Oh Jesus Christ!
posted by christopherious at 7:46 PM on January 24, 2016 [3 favorites]


This dog (like all dogs) is the best dog.
posted by schmod at 5:00 AM on January 29, 2016 [3 favorites]


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