Pamplona Day 1

Okay, I'm not even going to lie. This scares the hell out of me! We walked the route last night to help "prepare" for the run. You can't prepare for the run! It's total madness and nearly pure luck if you do not get injured. The route is hard to understand, but we figured out some of the basics from the locals. (Like, avoid "Dead Man's Corner" where most of the serious injuries - especially fatal ones - have occurred.) The main key is that you hope the bulls don't separate and become disoriented. This nearly always leads to some injuries as they struggle to get back on route or become more irritated and hostile.

We woke up early today to watch an actual run before participating tomorrow (Sunday morning) and/or Monday before we leave for Barcelona. People line up hours ahead of time along the route. There are two rows of fences about 10-15 apart from one another in areas where this is possible, such as the plazas. We were lined up by #3 on the map above. Here is how that situation developed. First, it's a total mass of people. Crazy mass of people. There are actually more girls here and involved than I predicted, but it is a little crazy as you can imagine with thousands of stupid, adrenaline pumped, drunk guys crowded around. We finally found a space near one of the barricades to view. You'll see pics that a guy took from on top the fence that shows the left side (first pic) up near #2 on the map toward the start of the run. Only local spaniards are allowed near number two. The next pic shows the TV setup and curve toward the right headed toward #4 on the map.

We are located in an area where you can enter for the run. The cops close the gate for runners at 7:30 am. Once the gate closed, major crowding ensued. We were standing behind three petite French girls, one on the ground to take pics through the fence (see my pic for a sample before the run), and two more standing. They nearly got smashed against the fence and so Keith had the idea to lock arms like Red Rover - a trick he learned from Mardi Gras mobs. He and I locked arms and then got the other guys involved. The six of us then formed a rounded wall around the girls so that we could stand our ground, the girls didn't get squished and we could maintain somewhat of a view. A couple fights nearly occured as people tried to shove through and we refused it. One crazy loco drunk girl kept punching me in the back when we wouldn't let her to the fence!! She wanted on to the course, but the cops were escorting those away that crawled through the fence and onto the course after 7:30 am anyway! She was drunk and didn't seem to care. At first I admired and respected her fire and vigilance, but then it started to get out of control. Everyone was yelling "loco" at her and I thought I was going to have to shove her back and deck the guy she was with just to go on the offensive. It was wild and fortunately, we just locked down and ignored everyone behind us until the crowds finally looked for other sections to breach.

We heard the first bottle rocket to indicate the start and the second to indicate all bulls were on the course. Peeping through the fence, I noticed white and red streaks running like mad about 15 feet in front of us and through a second barricade. A few dark brown streaks followed and then the run in our area was over. BAM! Just like that in 15 seconds they were gone! It's madness that more people aren't injured. The bulls are sooooo fast! They will catch you for certain. A typical run will last around 2.5 minutes I think. The first run in this year's festival lasted over 4 mins and 9 people were injured because the bulls became separated. So far, more than 70 have been injured.

Our strategy is that we are going to get into the street early enough to work our way down toward about #5 on the map above. Then we will try to run like hell and make it into the stadium (entrance is the second to last pic) with the bulls. We learned that some people say they ran with the bulls by lining up near the entrance (#6 and 7 on the map) and running in the stadium before the bulls are even nearby. This is how many people participate in the run.

Doing a "run" like this is, of course, considered cowardly and the citizens that pack in the Plaza de Toros or bull ring stadium will pelt you with tomatoes if you do so. Others run for a while and then duck into a fenced area after running 20 metres. We're going to do it right. The street we will run is called Calle Estafeta and it is long and narrow. It's the section that most everyone sees on TV with balconies high above for people to watch. It's a section where a guy got gored through the thigh today. We are going to try to time it so we actually make it to the stadium because the entrance is quickly barricaded after all the bulls are in the ring. We will have to see if we can keep up and not get bulldozed, or worse... the entrance to the stadium is on a curve and narrow downward ramp, making entry dangerous. A third rocket is fired in the air to signal the run is complete and all bulls are in the stadium. For those in the stadium, they wrangle all the bulls and then release smaller bulls with blunted horns for people to "play with" in the stadium. All and all a fairly crazy and probably stupid excursion. We're here and we're as ready as we can be, so if you're reading this... WISH US LUCK!!