Update on Rob

We just heard some good news about Rob. He's getting some IV antibiotics at Methodist in Indianapolis and will be fine. He's doing great and feeling much better with his wife by his side. Hopefully, he will still be able to come out an play with us in the future! :)

More updates on Barcelona to follow, but I've been a bit lazy as of late.

Safe Return for Rob

As it turned out over the past couple of days, Rob has not felt very good after his Bull Run spill. His knee has about seven stitches and became swollen and slightly infected, probably not helped by the continued travel. John and Keith made sure he was properly taken care of and given the right antibiotics to help him fight an infection that may have set in the wound. Today, he left for home a couple of days early at the advice of John to make sure his care continues well. Also, he is not able to do much here and misses his wife, Brooke, so he's heading back home. We wish him well and will look forward to seeing him again in about a week.

Aftermath of a Bull Run

Check out pics from the local paper in Pamplona. The lighting was bad in our hostel so it doesn't look real great and I don't have Photoshop to repair it. If you click on the images, they get large enough to provide more detail. In any case, you'll notice our good friend Rob has a highlight about his injury. We didn't see any pics of the rest of us. All these pics are from our Sunday run.

We're safely in Barcelona right now and off to take a bike tour of the city.

In the Plaza de Toros

Once the run is complete, a final rocket is fired and the bulls are hearded past the crowd now in the Plaza de Toros or stadium. They are placed into waiting areas in the back... for bull fights later in the day.

Soon after, however, they release bulls into the crowd with slightly covered horns. These bulls are smaller but much more agile. Super fast. The first one came out of the gate, charged after and straight on nailed this girl, who I later found out was an American from Atlanta. The crowd then begins to taunt and flee the bull. People dare the bull and try to touch it. They do this six times. I admit to clenching on the side fence as it streaked by, but with gaining confidence, realized this was my chance to touch a bull. They release six bulls into the arena. One at a time until it tires. I tried each time to get close, but it's a scary venture staring down a bull. I was in arm's length four times but was frozen or pushed back by the freaked out crowd. Or it would run away. Finally, the fifth bull entered. It nailed a couple of people in the crowd and then became slightly more tired. I became part of an inner circle that surrounded and faced the bull. The circle became a half circle around the bull, which backed up against a wall of the stadium. People dashed in to touch it or attempt to touch it and then ran out. The bull snorted and dug his feet into the dirt just like you see on cartoons when you are little. Suddenly the bull took off right charging (thankfully) away from me.

The crowd regrouped as the bull settled in the middle of the ring. I worked my way to the center and the inner ring again. Bracing myself against the others. I pulled off my red scarf as I faced him from the side. I dangled my scarf from my left hand and then after it got his attention I threw it to the left and ran right toward his rear end. I slapped it on the butt and then ran by as he turned quickly and charged at someone that was standing near where I had slapped him. I ran off from the rest of the circle.

"I touched a bull!! I touched a bull!! I TOUCHED A BULL!!"

Bull Run - Part 3

Gradually, we began to share stories. Rob had come so close to a bull that he had to reach up and pull himself from a fence to raise his legs from a charging bull. He dropped and ran forward, but a mass of people pushed him from behind. Another person fell into his legs and his knee planted on the cobblestone. Keith was nearby and helped him to his feet as they ran forward and into the stadium.

Shawn and Ted also charged forward where Shawn pushed his way through a crumbling mass of people to make entry into the stadium. Ted hurdled what was probably the same mass of people that I had to hurdle. John ran forward, reached down and grabbed someone's shoulder and pushed off as a springboard to help hurdle the mass. Landing on this feet, he dashed to the side, avoiding a charging bull and running into the stadium.

In the melee, we discovered that Rob had mashed open his knee pretty good. He required a medic to give him stitches just outside the stadium. The rest of us are unscathed. He will be fine but has been forced to hobble the last day and a half with a swollen and stitched knee.

The run was incredible! I think the panic of nearly not getting into the run added to the event. Most of us had been sky diving and bungee jumping among other things and agreed that those two adventures are similar in spirit, intensity and natural high, but that nothing really compared to the Running of the Bulls.

It was amazing. It was incredible. It was completely stupid. But it was amazing!

Bull Run - Part 2

What we learned next was that they would release a barricade blocking the course about five minutes before the run started, thus opening the course to the runners. Which they did.

As soon as the barricade was released people began to run forward. Everyone yelled in a multitude of languages to go slow. The police helplessly also urged caution and for us to stay slow so no one got trampled. Our group of four stayed together and began to pick up speed. Those bulls were going to be released soon and we knew we didn't want to be in the corner. We made it past Dead Man's Corner and right on to Estefeta. The goal was to start on Estefeta - a long and narrow street with little cover - so that we also had a shot of also entering the Plaza de Toros with the bulls. If we could keep up. If we didn't get gored.

We made our way past a second barricade slicing through the middle of the course and waited again nervously, but now pumped full of adrenaline. Soon after, Ted and Shawn joined us! "How the hell did you guys make it through?!" I said. "We thought you were left behind."

They explained that they worked their way through a crowd similar to us, but at the very back of the mass. They made it through both fences onto the course and after one or two others followed them, the cops turned around and cut off the course to new runners. They barely made it. And, luckily, they avoided the dangerous mass that we had been nearly squashed to death in moments earlier.

As we were rejoicing our small victory, we hear a bang. Rocket! The run has begun! Some people started to run. We waited. Too soon to start. As you looked down the entire road you could barely see the middle of the crowd starting to part. "Wait, not yet!" I yelled. "Can you see anything?" someone replied.

"I can see! I can see!" I said. And just barely, I could. I noticed that people would jump up and down as they awaited the bulls. Then when that particular head stopped bobbing up, you could assume it was because they turned around to run from the charging bulls. Closer. Closer. Someone from our group took off. "Hold the line!" I yelled, not quite knowing why or what it meant. The crowd roared. A surge parted in the middle. I looked back and Rob and Keith were gone. Next, Shawn and Ted dashed. Closer the bobbed heads stopped. Three, two... John turned and ran. I paused, looked back down the street and saw a glimpse of a horned beast. "Oh s&@#! ruunnnn!!!!!" I yelled and turned to dash as fast as possible. A roar streaked behind me and I could not see anything but a mass of panicked faces in front of me.

We all decided to stay middle left on the road so we could take the inside sweeping turn near the Telefonica building and then the sharper left into the Plaza de Toros. We hoped this would allow us to run alongside and away from the turn of the bulls. Masses of people squished against the fence in panic. "Move! Move!" Staying against the fence could get you gored straight up against it. Better to be trampled than gored. I turned to my right and saw a light brown, heavy horned steer and a deep brown, nearly black bull charging about 10 feet back and 6 feet to my right. "Oh crap, they are HUGE! ...and FAST!" I thought. (These things are about 1400 pounds on average.)

I look back forward and hit straight into someone that stopped because the person in front fell down. He was a huge hulking guy that then reached down to pull the person up and I pulled his other arm to help him keep momentum and then dashed forward without slowing down. You would reach the person in front of you and then push on their back to keep them moving forward. Around the corner and people on the side fences cheering. Faces all around you in panic. People trying to bail out over the fences. Making it closer now to the stadium entrance.

Taking time to look back could slow you down, but I still looked back immediately. The entry into the stadium is very narrow and on a downward ramp. You have to find a clear opening from bulls and dash through without hesitation. I look forward and a mass of people lay on the ground. I ran inside away from it and then hurdled another person huddled on the ground. One look back for bulls and a hurried dash through the doorway and into the stadium. I then ran off to the far left and raised my fists and yelled. The crowd poured into the stadium like water rushing through a broken dam. The crowd roared at us. The bulls continued to enter, those that had not already entered. One by one, our group found its way to each other. Fists clenched, raised and pumped. "We did it! We all made it!"

Bull Run - Part 1

"The Lord tells me he can get me out of this mess... but he's pretty sure you're f&@#%d!"

--Braveheart

So, I thought I would take some time to fill in the details.

We woke up on Sunday morning about 4 am so that we would get to the main streets in time to make the run. From our previous experience, all the good viewing spots for the 8 am bull run are taken by 6 am or sooner, so we wanted to make sure we would be in good shape to run.

One item that made the situation worse is that it had rained all night and continued to drizzle in the morning. In these scenarios the bulls tend to separate and become more dangerous. Normally, we would have passed on the run until Monday, but we realized that this was Shawn's only chance to run. So, we charged forward. Made the 1.5 mile walk to the strip and the streets were FULL of drunk people. However, it was a very gross scene. The streets were wet and filled with garbage and stank beyond belief. People were drinking and chanting in the streets. This continued for the next 2-1/2 hours or so. Intermittently, a street sweeper would break through the crowd to "clean up" one side of the main street, Calle de Estefeta.

Next, a giant truck with a water tank and hoses came to hose down the street as people partied around it. More street sweepers. This carried on for over an hour before the crowd started to dwindle. We staked out an area to start and stood nervously. Several people came to us and said that we could not run from this area. Other locals were sure to state that it is dangerous and we shouldn't run... especially after a rainy morning. At about 7:20 or so, a wall of police came by and began to shuffle everyone off the main street to the side streets. "Will we not be able to run?" we wondered. They told us we needed to enter elsewhere.

We started off in a group walking down a side street for another entrance. Then began to walk quickly because we knew the entire course is cut off to runners at 7:30am. Soon, we were rushing along the course to find entry. Then we began to separate as the mission became clear: we had to get in! I dashed forward following and then passing Rob. I followed a group of Australians as I was now in a dead sprint to make entry into the run. We were running out of time! Up the side streets near the church, near Dead Man's Corner and to a fenced barricade. I quickly crawled through the fence area and made it into the neutral zone, then passing through another fence area and onto the course. I was committed now. "Where was everyone else?"

I hear a voice not far behind me and it is John... soon after Rob caught up as well. The course was cut off as people around us were denied entry. A huge mass of people smashed together in a human corrale near Dead Man's corner. The crowd chanted at officials and girls in the windows and balconies above. Eventually, we saw Keith, who also made it. He was smashed up against a building looking toward us. Rob reached out his hand to get Keith to join our little group. He came in and by now we had to again lock arms Red Rover style to hold our place. The crowd swayed and moved like a choppy sea. We had to push our arms out so that we could create enough space to breathe. Cops sliced through, dividing the crowd in half and making entry room for some the veteran runners and participating matadors. As they backed away, the crowd moved quickly to fill the space the cops had sliced. Everyone yelled as the crowd pushed forward. We had to struggle to stay on our feet. At moments, some of us lost our footing and our feet didn't touch the ground as the sea of people swelled. It became harder to breathe and the fear of being trampled set in as people began to panic. Rob declared, "Man, our plan is screwed." I look up and asked if he knew where we were. "No!" he replied. I noted that Dead Man's Corner is straight ahead, and we absolutely needed to take a right at the no entry sign above, "That´s Estefeta... we HAVE to be on the inside right of that area when this starts because the bulls will go wide" I said.

However, no one knew what would happen next. We had not read anything about any of this scenario. Would they really keep us huddled in this smashed mass of people as they released the bulls?! It would be bloody murder!

Running of the Bulls!!

Nothing went as planned. More than five years of discussion, two to three years of recruitement and motivation, and a year of planning were to culminate on Sunday in one daring, amazing and stupid event. We ran. We all ran. It was in fact a miracle that we were even able to run. There were injuries. Nothing went as planned...

Rules of the Run

A few other things we learned about the run:

• No one under 18 allowed
• If you are visibly drunk, you are removed
• Only locals through the first stretch
• No cameras of any kind or you are removed
• Anything in your hand besides a rolled up newspaper and you are removed
• No hiding in doorways unless under heavy pursuit by a bull
• You must wear some traditional dress (several of us will be wearing Clarian t-shirts!)
• Run like mad!!!

Run Baby Run!

So, you've got to be prepared to run if you're going to run. It's about a mile. We will avoid the first leg, which is the most dangerous and where most people are gored. But there are two other dangerous sections that need to be traversed carefully.

Check out this San Fermin Google site for more information on the route, history of injury locations and other details.

Overall for our trip, we need to consider the following:

• travel backpack
• two compression bags (clean and dirty undies)
• accessory/toiletry bag
• two pairs of shoes (nice/going out shoes and comfortable shoes)
• zip-off pants/shorts
• passport
• money belts
• global cell phone (mine is unlocked so I'll buy a sim card over there)
• sun tan lotion
• bathing suit
• a couple pairs of pants (day and evening options)
• several shirts (day and evening options)
• camera
• and probably more that I'm forgetting
• Hostelling International membership
• train guide
• hostel guide
• general guide (local phones, country codes, etc)
• and probably others (I will continue to update log as I remember)

Generally, I don't bring guide books. I prefer to read some ahead of time and then toss them so we can walk the city and discover the amazing elements of the town within its natural setting. There is nothing worse than popping from one tourist trap to another. It's better to spend some time at the local cafes and take in the scene, feel the vibe and pulse of the area.

Route: Running of the Bulls

In this map of Pamplona, you can see the route of the Running of the Bulls.

While in Pamplona, we will be staying at Hotel Blanca de Navarra.

So far, we've only made reservations for Pamplona. We're going to remain flexible during the rest of our stay for right now.