First I would like to apologize to my mother for needlessly putting myself in harms way. And I promise I wont do anything else that is stupid.

Here is my experience running with the bulls. I will include as many details as I can so the reader can imagine what it was like from my perspective. Enjoy.

The day starts off very early. You fight the crowd and get in position somewhere along the running path. If I remember correctly, the run route is about a kilometer. I had talked to locals, so I knew to position myself somewhere in the middle. Apparently, if you start at the back where the bulls are released, they pass you too quickly and theres no fun. If you start too far in the front, you can actually beat the bulls to the stadium. And then everyone in the arena boos you for being a coward. So its best to be in the middle, so all of the bulls can pass you by, but not so quickly.

The track itself is just an old cobblestone road that they seal off. It is actually very slippery, from beer and piss from the night before...and the hosing off they give it that morning. At some parts, there are buildings on both sides of the track - nowhere to hide, except for a few nooks that are alway occupied by other runners. Other times, it will open up with fencing and barricades where watchers gather. Then you might have a little more breathing room.

There is one turn, a very tight right turn, called dead mans curve. The name stems from the fact that when the bulls try to make the turn, they slip and slide to the outside. And given that they are very big and moving very fast, if you happen to be on the outside of the turn, you might get squashed. Or gored by an angry bull as he gets up. So I started just before that turn, because that way I would be past it before the first bulls ever got to me. Hey, I ran to experience it and so I could say I did it. Not to genuinely tempt fate!

So we stand around and talk for an hour somewhere along the route. And by we I mean hundreds of people packed in these streets like sardines, no room to move. Most of the runners are foreigners. The vast majority even, Id say. It was really unsettling when Id ask local older men about the running, and theyd tell me absolutely not to do it. And when young locals were asked if they were running, they would say "yea, straight to the bar!". Tons of Aussies, Americans, Brits, and New Zealanders. Maybe 30% were locals, or at least from Spain. Couldnt tell.

So everyone is packed up so tight for an hour, and then it gets closer to 8:00. And your heart starts beating a little faster, and people start walking to the stadium slowly, spreading the crowd out. And then you hear the first rocket, and that means the gates are open and the bulls are coming. And you hear a second rocket, which means the bulls are all out of the pen. And people start jogging down the path. And just 5 minutes ago everyone was laughing and joking, suddenly the atmosphere gets a little...tense.

I wont lie, I was a little tired. I had gotten hardly any sleep the night before. I hadnt eaten breakfast. Just before the running I had a red bull...and I thought about the symbolism. Red...the color of blood. And a bull. Interesting. So I start jogging, and am going up this hill with the crowd between these buildings. The road is very narrow. Two american cars could barely pass each other Id say. Anyway, as I said I was kinda tired, and am out of shape, so I start getting exhausted as Im jogging. Not good. But my slow pace didnt last long. The adrenaline...

As Im jogging up that hill, I suddenly hear some commotion. I turn around and I see everyone start screaming/yelling, panicking, and sprinting. Thats when it starts getting really dangerous, as everyone is looking backward and not forward, so collisions between people result in lots of people on the ground already. I had heard about this though, and was ready for it. Im fairly heavy, maybe 205, and have good balance, so I was at less risk of being trampled by the crowd. When I collided with people, and it happened many times, I didnt ever go down, and that was crucial. But I am telling you, this is every man for themselves. You see people go down hard, and your instinct is to stop and help. But you cant, otherwise you become a target for the bull, or you get trampled by everyone else. When you go down, you are supposed to stay down until you are absolutely sure its clear to get up.

So everyone is panicking, and thats when I see the first three bulls come through. This is a scene that wont leave my head. The sound of the incoming bulls. The crowd of people in their path letting out a collective yell that gradually increases in intensity until it reaches the point of a collective scream. The bulls come and almost shake the ground as they run by....these things were enormous. The bulls were almost roaring as they ran by. I realize that bulls dont roar, but it was a loud scary sound, and I dont know how else to describe it. They seemed pissed. They were actually running in an upside down V formation, just absolutely clearing out anyone in their path. Which was a lot of people. I was lucky that the first three ran by on the left half of the road, while I was running on the right. Others werent so lucky. I saw an older guy get knocked down by the crowd, only to get trampled by the bulls. Another guy got absolutely smoked with a bull horn as he tried to hug the wall on the left and let them pass. Lots of other people were trampled. Mass chaos. People going down left and right, either getting trampled by bulls, trampled by people, slipping on the street, whatever. 15 seconds later, the first three bulls are past.

Other bulls would run by, there are maybe 9 total, but the first passing was what sticks out the most in my head. Another bull that left an impact was this huge black one. He ran by without incident, and we all were running behind him, excited to be running with a bull but relieved that the business end was going away from us. But this thing stops suddenly, and on a dime, and turns around to face us. So we immediately put the breaks on, and sortof jump back, forming this arc in front of the bull. It charged, but again I was lucky and it picked the side I wasnt on. Some people were trampled, gored, etc. Then there are a few guys with sticks that poke the bull to keep it moving, they came and turned it around and sent it to the stadium.

You see its actually not the running along the route itself where people seriously get injured. Sure you might get trampled, but if you go down just get in the fetal position and dont get up, and the bulls will keep running. Where you hear about people getting seriously injured, it happens in the stadium. And after all the bulls had passed, we went into the stadium to a large and cheering crowd. That was a cool scene, because all of the runners are relieved to be alive, and we all start yelling and raising our hands. The big bulls from the running are herded out of the stadium (sand bottom), and we hang out for a couple minutes. I hadnt used my disposable camera during the running itself bc i was told it would be confiscated. But lots of people in the arena were taking pictures, so that was when I got mine out. I have some cool pictures of what follows.

So then they let out the little bull. And when I say little, that is a relative term. True it is much smaller than the ones that run the route, but it is still a very large, very agile animal. People underesimate it. So they let out one little bull in the stadium, sometimes a second when nobody is looking. And basically, the runners all tease the bull. Think about that for a second. Tease a bull. Sound like a bad idea to anyone? Everyone chases the bull and gathers around it. Then it charges, and everyone in its path runs away. The fast ones anyways. The slow ones get gored and trampled.

I hung around in the arena for a while, even though thats where everyone gets hurt. At first I kept back, and that is pretty easy to do. Ever see those discovery channel documentaries with sharks chasing schools of minnows? We were minnows, and its really pretty easy to stay away from the bull if you want, because you just stay behind the crowd. And alway be ready to run faster than the guy next to you.

But I had to be stupid, at least for a bit, to experience the whole thing. So after a while I started going up with the teasers too, getting in the front row not far from the bull. And that was fun for a while. And then, the bull charged directly at me and 5 or so guy around me. We all take off the other direction, and I was one of the faster ones so I got away unscathed. The guy next to me got trampled, but he was ok. After that I stayed back again, deciding my temptation of fate had gone far enough.

The day before we ran, an American was paralyzed. Another person, New Zealand I think, was killed. Ive heard the account of the American (Asian, New Yorker) getting hurt by multiple people. What happened was that he was teasing the bull with everyone else. The bull charged, and this guy made the poor decision of running off -by himself. A smart minnow moves with the crowd, and doesnt get isolated. Now the bull singled him out, and ran after him. The bull gored him and hit his spine, and thats all she wrote. The guy went down, and was dragged out of the arena by some Irish guys. He was screaming, "I cant feel my legs!", and the Irish guys were trying to protect him. But just outside of the arena is extremely crowded. And then the bull charged more people, and some jumped over the rail to escape the bull, and were landing on this American guy who couldnt feel his legs, no doubt making a serious medical case even worse.

I saw another guy get isolated and the bull charged him. It almost seemed like this guy froze in his tracks, crouching a bit and motionless, maybe hoping the bull wouldnt hit him. The bull ran directly over him like a freight train, completely flattened the guy, didnt even slow down. The guy was pancaked on the sand and not moving. I have a pic of that. I dont know if he was just knocked out, paralyzed, or dead, but his body was dragged out of the arena by a few people, and I didnt see him move at all. I think he just got knocked out though.

See there is a reason you hear about foreigners getting hurt and not locals. Because there are things you do, and dont do, and they are extremely important. If you go down, stay down. Dont get isolated - its safe to move with the pack. Another thing you dont do, ever, is touch the bull. The locals get really pissed off when people touch the bulls. Its a cultural thing...the bulls are sacred or something. This one foreigner tried to tackle the bull. The crowd started booing him, and cheering for the bull, and, Im not 100% sure, but almost sounded to be calling for his muerto...death. Maybe I heard wrong. Anyways, one of the herding guys with a stick hit the foreigner who tried to tackle the bull with it hard. And a mob of locals started just beating this guys ass. One guy was in his face, yelling at him. Other locals would come up behind him, give him a hard punch to the kidney or whatever, and walk away. This foreigner had no idea what he had done, or why there were so many people pissed at him all of the sudden. I felt bad for him, a little. Not bad enough to not take pictures of him getting his ass kicked though =P.

Anyways. I dont know if Id ever run again, even though it was a great experience now that I pulled it off unscathed. Even though I feel like now I know the ins and outs of it, its still too risky. There were just too many times when my fate was left to luck, and not smarts. When those first bulls plowed through, they could just as easily decided to run on the right side where I was. Or, decided to charge me for whatever reason. Or the big black bull that turned around suddenly and charged. It didnt charge in my direction, but it basically had a 50% chance of doing so. Its like drawing numbers out of a hat. The bulls are just too unpredictable, and im not sure I would want to again tie my fate to something beyond my control. All it takes is one horn to the spine and you are paralyzed for life.

So in conclusion. It was the most fun that I dont really care to have again. But in retrospect, as I said, Im glad I did it.