Visitors, from across the nation, came out to celebrate Blunt’s 125th birthday last weekend

And not all the visitors were of the two-legged variety.

One in particular deserves a bit of recognition. Her name is Bump. She is a 15-year-old Sheltie, companion to Rapid City resident Joyce Lorenzen. Lorenzen traveled to Blunt to celebrate the weekend with her cousin, Sondra Russell, and to help Russell with the annual 5K run in memory of Russell’s deceased husband, Steve.

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Bump’s story begins before she was born. The young Lorenzen family had a large dog, aptly named Mountain. Mountain passed on but his memory lingered. Later, one of  Joyce’s friends had a batch of shelti puppies. She convinced Joyce that Joyce’s grade-school-aged daughter needed one of these puppies.

Joyce was sucked in by the story and brought home a female puppy. She was a tiny thing. When wondering what to call her, Joyce’s young son said the puppy was definitely not a mountain like their former dog. She was more like a bump.

And the name stuck.

She grew up alongside Joyce’s children, becoming especially attached to Joyce’s daughter who now is an adult. The daughter couldn’t take Bump with her when she left home, so Bump has been by Joyce’s side ever since.

The Blunt 125th Anniversary Celebration arrived and Joyce felt Bump would like to share the fun.

Saturday morning rolled around, and participants for the race needed to be there early.

Joyce planned on helping as much as she could, but she also had signed up to run.

She didn’t expect Bump to run the course.

In people years, Bump is at least 75 years old. By some calculations she’s older than 100. Five kilometers is a long distance no matter how fast you go when you’re feeling that old.

But Joyce was wrong. Bump was anxious to be part of the race.

It could have been because she remembered the kindness Steve Russell showed her when he was alive. Or maybe she wanted to impress her Blunt relatives. It could have been pride or maybe she wanted to show the people in attendance it didn’t matter how old she was in people years, she still felt like a young pup.

Joyce will never know the real reason (though she thought it might have been simple canine curiosity to sniff out all the unfamiliar smells).

It doesn’t really matter.

Because the fact is, Bump made it through the entire 5K course without stopping. Joyce admitted Bump walked behind her the entire way. And, yes, Bump did come in last, but the people were cheering her on and she made it with her head held high and her tail wagging.

Joyce, hadn’t had the chance to tell her daughter of Bump’s success because she currently is in the Mediterranean region.

Yet, Joyce knew her daughter would be proud of her old dog.

In fact, Joyce’s daughter hopes to take Bump away from her long-time home to live with her in her apartment. But Joyce won’t allow it.

Bump is getting old. She is at least 50 percent hearing impaired and maybe a bit blind.

She, like many of us as we get older, likes her routines. By now, she is back home taking naps in her special spot and eating her favorite foods.

Joyce doesn’t know how much longer Bump will be walking beside her on this earth. It could be months, years, maybe even another decade. But no matter how long it is, Bump will forever have the memory of finishing a 5K race while people cheered her on.

Often, it doesn’t matter that we cross the finish line last.

What matters is that we finish what we have begun, and we are confident enough to recognize the accomplishment no matter how long it took us to get there.

Thank you Bump. Live long and prosper.