All the participants who completed the Evansville Half Marathon in Indiana over the weekend got a medal, whether they registered for the race or not.
The final medal was awarded a few days late because, well, this was not your average participant.
Boogie, an 8-year-old chocolate labrador, escaped from his owner, Evansville resident Jerry Butts, on Friday night and wound up at an Evansville gas station the next morning. Coincidentally, that was where the Half Marathon was kicking off. Once Boogie saw all the participants kicking off the run, he instinctively followed. And he didn't stop running until he crossed the finish line.
While Boogie didn't follow the course perfectly, he did end up running most of the 13.1 miles in a stellar time of 2 hours, 15 minutes. That was better than about half of the race's human participants.
A medal wasn't the only "reward" Boogie received for completing the marathon. He also had a microchip implanted in his body and will be getting neutered.
"He’s going to lose part of his manhood here," Jerry Butts said. "That was part of the deal."
