Day 26 - Pamplona (1 of 2)

So, today is the day we run with the bulls.  I am going to do this day in 2 parts, as it's going to be longer than most...

Last I left off, we fell asleep in the car around 3:30am.  Well, in order to get to the running area in enough time to scope out the scene of each of our deaths, we had to get up around 6:00am or so.  This would give us enough time to get to the main area around 7:00, since we were a good 20 minute walk away...

I have to say that this is the most nervous I have been in a while.  I mean, you hear stories and see things on youtube that scare the crap out of you.  Already this year one Irish has died.  So, it was a little nerve-racking to say the least.  Ok, so we grabbed a quick doughnut at a nearby gas station (which would prove to be our little supermarket) and headed up the hill towards the main running area.  We got up there around 7:00 or so, and actually ran in to a couple of people we had met in a train station in Milan.  They had been there the day before and scoped it out, so they gave us a little advice as we were pretty confused about what we should be doing, where we should be standing, etc.

I will give you a quick rundown of how the whole thing lays out.  I am going to copy some text here, since it's better explained from another source...

"The Pamplona bull run takes place at 8am every morning from 7th to 14th July. Runners must be in the running area by 7.30am. The actual run stretches from the corral at Santo Domingo where the bulls are kept, to the bullring where they will fight that same afternoon. The length of the run is 825 metres and the average time of the run from start to finish is about three minutes. The streets through the old town which make up the bull run are walled off so the bulls can't escape. Each day six fighting bulls run the route as well as two herds of bullocks.

The tension builds as the release of the bulls approaches and at 8am on the dot a rocket is fired to confirm that the gate has been opened at the Santo Domingo corral. Runners dressed in white with a red hankerchief around their necks pray to San Fermin then a second rocket announces that the bulls have left. The bulls and the runners then proceed along the route.  

First of all they climb Santo Domingo and go across the Ayuntamiento Square continuing down c/ Mercaderes. The most dangerous part of the bullrun approaches as there's a closed curve leading into c/ Estafeta which is the longest stretch of the run. Next comes a small section of c/ Duque de Ahumada which is known as the Telefónica stretch. The last stretch is also very risky as the route leads into a dead end street providing access to the Bull Ring."

I know it's kinda hard to follow all that, but basically the run is about 800 meters, and you have to pick a section,  We decided to pick the last section of about 250-300 meters so that we could follow the bulls in to the Bull Ring...

At 8:00am exactly, the rocket fires, and we are just waiting for the bulls to get to our section.  About a minute later, we see them coming.  Everyone is absolutley frantic, as are we.  About 15 seconds later, there they are... the bulls are right there with us, and we are running as fast as possible.  The three of us took off, running beside the bulls and all ended up in the ring.  Josh actually got hit by a bull.  Blake and I went unscathed.  

Once you arrive in the ring, it's a surreal feeling.  Everyone is going nuts and cheering.  You kinda feel like it's a scene out of Gladiator or something.  Exhausted and glad to be alive, you just kinda raise up your hands and start cheering with everyone from spectators to fellow runners.

Once the big bulls are rounded up, they start releasing baby bulls, one by one.  These baby bulls are still fast and can throw quite a punch.  They do have their horns plugged, though, so nobody really has a chance of dying or anything.  So, we hung out in the ring, dodged some more bulls, and then around 9:00am, left the ring happy to be alive and well...