What would you do if you found an abandoned puppy at the side of the road? For most people, they’d stop to check if the puppy was doing okay.
But what if you were running a marathon when you found the abandoned animal?
For runner Khemjira Klongsanun, it was a no-brainer. She was already seven miles into the Chombueng marathon in Ratchaburi, Thailand when she spotted the puppy. She knelt down and tried to coax the puppy to come to her.
She scanned the area to see if there were any houses or groups of people nearby. But she found none.
She realized this puppy was all alone and could have been abandoned.
“It seemed to me that this little guy was lost. There were no houses, no other dogs, or no people around. So, I picked up the puppy, if only to take him out of the unsafe environment,” Khemjira said.
When she was satisfied that the puppy was okay, she cradled him and continued to run. She wanted to find the puppy’s owner but she needed to finish the race first. So she ran.
She ran the next 20 miles with the puppy in her arms.
“Running almost 20 miles carrying dog was truly a challenge. It was two times tiring than a normal marathon but I did it anyway just because he is adorable,” Khemjira recalled the experience to Runner’s World.
The young dog was calm throughout the entire run. It seemed like he could sense that Khemjira was going to help him after the race so he didn’t need to worry.
Soon, Khemjira and her new friend crossed the finish line with smiles on their faces.
Or at least, Khemjira’s. We can only imagine there’s a smile on the pup’s face, too.
And true to her word, Khemjira tried to look for the puppy’s owner and posted on social media.
Unfortunately, no one responded to her post.
But fortunately for the puppy, he still found a home after the race when Khemjira decided to adopt him.
Khemjira is an animal lover and has two dogs living with her. She has even run a race with her dog on a leash. This is the first time that she’s run a race carrying the dog in her arms.
She is super excited to officially bring home the puppy. She named him Chombueng, after the name of the race.
“It took a lot of time to take [Chombueng] for checkups, vaccinations, and treatments but I’m glad to save him and willing to have him with other dog members in the family,” Khemjira shared.
He is now living happily with his two older siblings.
“It might take a while for him to adapt himself. But Chombueng is a very smart boy. I’m sure he is going to be happy living with us,” Khemjira said of the newest member of their family.
On her Facebook profile, Khemjira posted a photo of all three of her dogs, with the two older dogs guarding the younger Chombueng. Khemjira wrote as a caption, “Do [these] three brothers love each other?”
Judging from the photo, it looked like they do. And it also looked like Chombueng’s two older brothers will always be there to protect him.
Watch the video below to hear Khemjira’s account of her extraordinary rescue.
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