During his nightly runs through the mountains of Oahu, Hawaii, Sergio Florian, a 44-year-old marathon runner, is often treated to some unforgettable sights, but on a run last month, he saw something unbelievable by even his standards.
Perched high up on a cliff, a grey and white dog had gotten stuck and was too exhausted to get down by itself. Florian decided to help.
“I was shocked to see her because I’ve never seen a dog up that high,” Florian told The Washington Post. “She was in the most treacherous part of the trail, stuck between two cliffs, and it was almost sunset.”
Florian could see that the dog was dehydrated and covered in scratches on her face and neck. She had curled herself up near the cliff’s edge, unable to move.
Florian, who captures his runs for his Instagram account, Best Compression Socks.
“I’m going to get her down,” he says in the video. Florian had to lift the 45-pound dog and carry her down more than 1,000 feet to safety.
“She was quivering and scared, and I could feel her warm little underbelly on my skin as I hooked my arm around her,” he told the Post. “She seemed really tame and loving, but she was really weak, like she’d been up there for a while.”
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It turns out that a hiker had spotted the dog, named Stevie, not long before Florian but could not get to her. Instead, they posted about the dog in the Oahu Hiking Community Facebook group, where Florian's wife, Dayane, recognized her and helped reconnect her with her owners. Stevie had actually been missing for three days after chasing a wild pig.
“I just did what anyone would have done if they could,” Florian Running Shoes & Gear. “Any time you’re in a position where you’re able-bodied, and you’re in a good place, and you can help someone, you should lend a hand.”
Laura Ratliff is a New York City-based writer, editor, and runner. Laura's writing expertise spans numerous topics, ranging from travel and food and drink to reported pieces covering political and human rights issues. She has previously worked at Architectural Digest, Bloomberg News, and Best Big City Marathons and was most recently the senior editorial director at TripSavvy. Like many of us, Laura was bitten by the running bug later in life, after years of claiming to "hate running." Her favorite marathon is Big Sur.
