So I ran with the bulls. It was great! But I easily could have been severely injured or died.
Here's my story in brief.
I ran on 12 July, two days after the Spaniard got gored to death as widely reported in the news. Apparently someone else died that day but it wasn't reported (only immediate deaths from goring get reported, or so we were told, but on average there are about three deaths per year because people get trampled, die in hospital weeks later, etc).
Turn up at about 6:30am to get a good spot for the 8am start. The race lasts on average only a few minutes and there is no way you can outrun the bulls so basically you go to the part you feel most comfortable with being chased down by bulls at. My buddies and I waited nervously for over an hour while the balconies above us filled up with spectators eager to see us die.
Ten minutes before 8am we moved ahead from the starting point and eked out a spot on Estafeta, the long stretch of the run and comfortably past "dead man's corner".
Just before the race the police made some Spaniards climb down from the iron grating on a window above us. Quickly the cops scrambled to the sidelines to safety and the first rocket signalled that the bulls had been released. About 40 seconds later we heard the second rocket signifying the last of the bulls had left the pen and were running down the streets. About a minute after that we could hear the thunder of hooves, the roar of the crowd and could see the spectators cameras change their angles towards us. The bulls were coming! Some of my buddies ran off while me and another hopped up onto the iron window-grating where we safely watched the bulls run past. In an instant it was over. Or was it!?
With the bulls having past we immediately jumped down and ran after them to try to get into the bullring before they shut the gates. We didn't get very far before the police closed a swinging barricade on the street in front of us. It seemed like a lifetime and but we were only behind it for about 30-45 seconds (while the cops beat back people attempting to climb over it with their truncheons). As soon as they reopened the gate we sprinted through hoping to get into the bullring before lockdown.
So we sprinted toward the bullring and I was nearly in the tunnel leading into the stadium when some idiot from the sidelines tried to sneak into the running crowd through wooden fence and took out my legs. I careened about three or four metres sideways at the entrance to the tunnel struggling to maintain my footing. The last thing I wanted to do was fall down in this sea of people, and we had been told repeatedly that the cardinal rule of the encierro is that if you fall down, curl up in a ball and stay down. Miraculously, I managed to regain my balance and did not fall over and so into the bullring I ran.
About 30 seconds later, as we watched on the large screens in the bullring, a man was getting seriously gored by one stray remaining bull in the EXACT spot where I had nearly fallen over moments before. He got gored in the chest and in the thigh; we could see the blood expanding over his white t-shirt and could see the flesh of his hamstring hanging out on the ground. It so easily could have been me if I hadn't maintained my footing. Having climbed up on the window when the bulls ran past I thought I was out of danger, but I was completely oblivious to the fact there was still a bull on the loose. It could have been me getting gored if I had fallen over near the entrance. That guy JUST got released from intensive care and it is a wonder he survived; besides the guy who died on 10 July, he was the second big story of this year's running and it so easily could have been me in his place.
Here's the link to my day's run along with the video and photos.
http://www.sanfermin.com/index.php/e...os/12-de-julio
It was certainly the highlight of my trip though, not just running with the bulls but the whole San Fermin fiesta in Pamplona. I highly recommend it; I have never seen public drunkenness and partying so encouraged. I would love to go back!
