Running of the Bulls - 2008 - Encierro 1 July 7th

SIDE NOTE: WOW, an update to my blog. It's been 2 years to the day! Guess running with bulls was inspiration enough.
------
I have never wanted to run with the bulls. Never.

I have seen it dozens of times on TV and on the internet.

I have never ONCE thought: "I want to do that". It was always an abstract-absurd-mystical event that I knew occurred, but not something I thought I would ever take part in. Kind of like a Japanese game show.

I have now run with the bulls.

I have felt terror and fear like I never could have imagined. And I hope to never feel that again. A dramatic-hyperbole of a cliché, but it’s true.

...Yet it was one of the highlights of my life.

Short Story
On July 7th, 2008 - 3 friends (Nalin, Aaron, John) and I ran with the legendary bulls in Pamplona, Spain. We did it for Aaron’s bachelor party. It was scarier and much more dangerous than any of us imagined it would be. We wouldn’t necessarily recommend it to any of our friends. But we are all immensely glad we did it. I know, it sounds stupid to me too.

We all came out of it relatively unscathed with the exception of a few bumps, scratches and a deep stomach-churning desire to fire-hose vomit.

The running turned out to be a huge physiological and psychological experiment on my body and mind. The "Long Story" of the running is below. It is heavy on a lot of details that may be helpful to anyone who is also planning on running it.

Long Story
The long story below is REAL long. You have been warned. A few short cut links are here.

• The Journey To Pamplona
• Pamplona
• The Morning of the Run
• Policia Fuck With Us
• The Run
• The Arena

The Journey To Pamplona

The running of the bulls is actually a week long festival that has a running every day for a week. We decided to run the very first day (Monday July 7, 2008 aka Encierro 1), what is traditionally the most popular day to run.

It is notoriously difficult to get a hotel in Pamplona during the festival; hence, many people don’t bother. Instead, we left our stuff in our Madrid Hotel and jumped on a train to Pamplona with nothing but a bit of cash, our white outfits and a sweater. I recommend not even bringing a bag.

Tips for taking the train:

• This website has some good tips on booking your train ticket ahead of time which is highly recommended: http://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g187514-c80518/Madrid:Spain:Buying.Renfe.Tickets.Online.html
• If you can afford the extra euro for the first class cabin, splurge. You get a meal, movie (in Spanish) and nice-comfortable reserved seating. I can’t tell you how valuable this is, especially on the journey back, when you are dirty and exhausted (not having slept for about over 24 hours)
• If leaving from Madrid, you take the train out of the Atocha train station which is breathtakingly beautiful for a train station. It’s near Madrid’s Prada museum and is a 30-40 min walk from the center of Madrid.
• If you print up your train tickets ahead of time (recommended) you really don’t need to get to the train station any more than 15 min before your train leaves. The beauty of train travel vs. flying
  

The ride itself was about 3.5 hours and we got into Pamplona around 6:30 pm. Well, we now had about 14 hours to kill with no hotel.

Pamplona
Pamplona is an absolutely beautiful city in Northern Spain. We heard that no travelers go to Pamplona except for the festival. After being there, I can’t imagine this is true, because it is a lovely city of winding alleys, cobblestone roads, bars, restaurants and modern plazas that surprised us all.

Walking out of the train station, you immediately see everyone dressed in the traditional white outfit with red scarf and sash. Not just the other travelers or tourists visiting Pamplona. I mean everyone: grandmas grocery shopping, kids playing in the park, older couples in coffee shops.

During the San Fermin festival, it seems like everyone embraces the tradition and events whether they are running it or not. You slowly begin to understand that this isn’t just a tourist event but a deep routed tradition.

Since we had 14 hours to kill, we just walked from the train station hoping to stumble upon the main area (we had no map). This turned out to be fairly easy as the train station turned out to be just a mile or so from the festivities.

We hit a fair where we picked up our own scarves and sashes (8 euro each, which we later learn is a rip off - if you wait to get to the t-shirt shops along the route they are 2.40 euro each, but we figure that was a small price to pay for fitting in).

(John, Aaron, Nalin and Me)

Soon, we stumbled upon the main festival streets of Pamplona. And calling it a block party is like calling the Superbowl a football game. It just doesn’t do it justice

(Jam Packed Revelry In Pamplona)

It was street after street after street of people packed shoulder to shoulder drinking and partying. The streets were absolutely filthy with bottles, cups and who knows what.

(This was was the streets looked like for blocks on end)

At this point, anyone who knows Nalin, John, Aaron or myself is going to assume we got ourselves a few drinks and joined in. Surprise! We didn’t. A few reasons:

1. We did not want to be hung over (or drunk) running with the bulls
2. We were out in Madrid until about 6 am the night before and were still feeling it a bit
3. Not drinking at all helped us stay awake all night
   

I really recommend anyone who runs not drink very much the day before. They say that police will stop anyone who looks drunk or hung over from running. However, unless you are barfing as you try to get on the course, I don’t think they are going to stop you. So just do it for your own safety.

The next 12 or so hours was spent walking around Pamplona (we have this place memorized) including the bull running course numerous times, talking strategy, eating, sitting on benches people watching, and a bit more eating. It actually went by a lot faster than I was expecting. You can kill some time eating a later dinner until about 2 am in some places and then grab a very early breakfast at about 5 am like we did.

At the beginning of the bull-run course, you can get a close up view of the bulls in their pen. They are enormous and their horns look extremely sharp. Something hit all 4 of us when we saw the reality of what would be chasing us in a few hours. I know I’m not the only one that started to get a barfy feeling in his stomach.

(The Bulls the night before the Run. My theory is they keep the spotlight on them all night to make them grumpy and angry for the run itself)

A lot of people you see fall asleep in the streets or parks around town and then wake up for the running. I actually wouldn’t recommend this because you obviously become a prime target for pick pockets and thieves. Nalin and I met a guy named Evan in Ibiza who was in Pamplona the same time as us. He fell asleep in a park, wrapped his bag around his legs so no one would steal it, and was surrounded by his friends. When he woke up, his bag was ripped open and some of his stuff was scattered around him - minus his camera of course. Be careful.

(Random dude passed out on the sidewalk in the middle of the night)

The Morning Of The Run

The running of the bulls starts at 8 am. We heard that you had to be on the course at 7 am or they don’t let you on.

We headed over around 5’ish am to do another walk along the course and scope out our starting spot.

There are quite a few websites that list tips for running of the bulls. We read a lot of them before coming to Pamplona and we narrowed down our strategy to the following:

1. Start immediately before Dead Man’s Turn (map below) - this is one of the most dangerous parts of the run. You often see bulls sliding into the wall of this near 90 degree turn, often slamming people between them and the wall. We figured that if we started right before the turn, we would be well past the turn by the time the bulls got to us.
2. Run along the left hand side - In general, you want to run on the inside lane of any turn (e.g. if it is a right turn, be on the right side) to avoid the bull slamming you into the wall (see above). After Dead Man’s turn it is nearly straight into the bull arena with a slight left before entering the arena. Because of this we wanted to run along the left hand side.
3. Run fast as fuck - This is a bit self explanatory. We weren’t trying to be one of those guys that runs right beside the bull and slaps them.
4. When in doubt - Escape - Along the remainder of the course there were 2 potential spots to jump off the course through a set of fences. We each told ourselves that if there was any question for our safety we would jump ship.
   

Simple enough right? The best laid plans of mice….

Monkey Wrench #1 - Policia Try to Fuck With Us
At about 7:40 am (20 minutes before the run starts) the course is PACKED shoulder to shoulder. We are standing about nervously, talking about our plan over and over again and debating how fast we can move in such a large pack.

Suddenly, the Policia separate the runners into 2 groups. They form a line directly behind where we are standing and start telling us to walk forward? Huh?

We don’t really have any idea what is going on and we are marched past the bend. No one knows what is going on. Suddenly, strategy #1 is out the window.

We now overhear some horrifying news. For some reason, all of the people in front of the police line (half the runners, including us) are being ushered OUT of the course. We are being told that we cannot run today. WHAT?

We are furious. We are livid. The entire point of our Europe trip was to run with the bulls. And a lifetime highlight was being made a lifetime lowlight. We look at each other cursing.

[Psychological side note #1: Interesting side note here. As I mentioned earlier, I never really had a desire to run with the bulls. Even standing on the course nervously in the morning, I was having a few second thoughts about the sanity of this decision. However, the moment I found out that the opportunity to run was being taken away, there was nothing more I wanted to do. Strange. This reaction surprised even myself.]

Hundreds (thousands?) of runners are moved off the course and we all look at each other despondently. The running starts in about 15 minutes.

Well, we didn’t come half way around the world to stand on a fence.

Many of the displaced runners just walk and mill about sullenly, but a small handful just start running. The 4 of us, still not really sure what just happened, break out into a mad sprint. We are desperate to find a way back onto the course. No one is sure where we are going. We are like lemmings running to find our way back to the top of the cliff.

We sprint through various winding back alleys of Pamplona hoping to find a fence that we can jump. After what seems like 5 minutes, I am alone. I’ve lost John, Aaron and Nalin in the confused scramble. [Psychological side note #2 - Again surprisingly, I didn’t even think to double back and find them. All I wanted to do was get myself back on the course. Weird. Really weird]

I finally find a fence that is crowded 4 people deep waiting for the run to start. These folks have been waiting for hours to get a good spot to watch the run and I feel it isn’t going to be easy to push my way through. But before I know it, I squeeze my way through the crowd, crawl through 2 fences and I’m on the course!

I feel happiness and elation that is inappropriate the position I am in. I am almost right at the gate where they let the bulls out. The start of the course. This was not part of the plan.

Amazingly, I find Aaron, Hesh and Nalin all on the course and we are back to together - breathing heavily, legs tired from the sprint, but all as elated as me.

(Minutes away from the start)

Luckily, we manage to keep moving our way up the course and oddly end up back to where we were planning on starting. We still have no idea why the Polica did what they did. That was fucked.

The Run
My watch reads 7:58 and the race is about to start. This is a map of the course (about 0.5 miles total). This map actually notes the injuries that occured on the day of our run.

(The Course)

The race uses multiple rockets to signify significant events. We read:

• Rocket 1. Signifies that the first bull is released
• Rocket 2. Suppose to be about a minute later, the last bull is released
  

Everyone says that you start running lightly when the first rocket launches and then start hard running when the second rocket goes off. All in, it should take the bulls about 3 minutes to finish the 0.5 mile course.

*BOOM* The first rocket goes off.

I start the jog with the rest of the group. Surprisingly, the masses move quite well together.

About 15 seconds later, the second rocket goes off. WHAT? Already? Panic. This was unplanned for.

The masses begin to sprint. Hard.

I am running up the left side and I see John and Aaron vaguely around me.

People are crowded all along the very edge of the road making me run a lot closer to the middle than I was planning (and yes, the middle is generally where the bulls tend to stay). I wasn’t expecting people to just stand ON the road the entire running.

My adrenalin is pumping probably harder than it has ever pumped. Marathons, triathlons, and even swimming from Alcatraz had nothing on this.

In total, I probably had about 0.25-0.3 miles to run before getting into the bull fighting arena. Before the run started, I thought it could be possible that I get into the arena before I even see a bull.

Not so.

As I am sprinting, the look of fear on the faces around me is shocking. I see hundreds of faces turning around and the fear on the faces is like a Godzilla movie with white people. Lots of cursing is heard. John overhears someone yell "Whose idea was this anyway".

The fear is contagious because I get more terrified by just seeing everyone’s faces and it becomes very real.

I continue sprinting.

Someone trips up ahead. Bad bad news.

Imagine tripping and falling on the ground…with hundreds of people running as fast as they can right behind you. A cartoon like pile up ensues with people just falling over on the fallen runners and making a large dog pile. Carried by my momentum, I run right into the pile up, pushing a few people to the ground (sorry). I manage to not fall completely, and with a hand on the ground, spin myself out of it to avoid most of the mess.

One of my biggest worries was getting caught in a pile up and having a bull smash right into us. It happens. Luckily not to me.

I keep running and then I hear someone shout "They’re coming".

I feel even more panicked. I contemplate jumping into a doorway, but think better of it, and just keep running.

I hear cow bells. And not the funny Saturday Night Live kind.

I mean cow bells attached to 1 ton beasts with very sharp horns.

I keep running.

The sides of the road get even more crowded as the people running in the middle move to the sides. I see the first pack of bulls run by me. I’m unscathed. I catch a quick breath but keep moving.

Another side note about the run: about 12 Bulls are let loose in the run. It is safest for runners if the bulls stay in a pack. If they stay in a pack, they generally stay in the middle of the road and don’t bother anyone (unless you fall in front of them). But often along the twists and turns, the bulls separate into multiple packs. It is the most dangerous when a bull ends up alone because it will get disoriented and start attacking people. It may even run back into the crowd.

I keep running.

I make it to the turn into the arena when out of the corner of my eye I see a bull spin out right at the turn. It is lying on the ground about to get up. It is now a disoriented lonely angry bull. Scary.

I have a big decision to make. Do I think I can make the final 30-40 yards into the arena before the bull gets up and beats me in there? Or do I jump the fence now and call it a day? My mind is racing. You do NOT want to get caught in the narrow tunnel into the arena with a bull. But if the bull got up and started running, we would hit the tunnel at the same time.

I’m contemplating jumping over the fence and forgetting about the arena. My heart is pounding. Then I hear Aaron shout: "It’s clear! Get out!"

Fuck it. I go for it.

I sprint. Or at least try.

[Physiological/Psychological Side Note #1: At this point I only have about 30-40 yards left and I am sprinting. I’m telling my body to sprint faster because I don’t feel like I’m running very fast. I can’t move any faster. My mind is positive I can run faster. My legs refuse. I still don’t know why]

I enter the tunnel (about 10 yards long) and I want to turn around. But I’m afraid if I turn around I may see a bull right there and I’d rather not see myself get gored. So I keep running.

I enter the arena and veer left right away. I HIGHLY recommend you veer left or right immediately when getting into the arena. As the bulls enter the arena, they just run straight to the exit.

I see Aaron in the arena. We made it! We are alive! We ran with the bulls!

Here is a YouTube video of the run itself:


The Arena

I didn’t know until this year, but the running of the bulls actually ends in a real bull fighting arena. Runners try and make it into the arena before the last bull, at which time they close the gate.

A rocket goes off signifying that the last bull has cleared the arena!

We don’t see Nalin and John after the rocket, but we assume they just jumped a fence and are fine (we hope).

Aaron and I hug and jump in joy. Words cannot describe the jubilation and elation we feel. All the people around us are smiling, hugging and are giddy.

We cannot help but to scream into the jam packed arena: "Are you not entertained? Are you not mother fucking entertained?" I think we earned the right to be a bit douchey.

(Our Fans In The Stadium)

*BOOM* a rocket goes off. The lesser known "Act II" of the running of the bulls begins.

Act II - Arena Mayhem
I didn’t know until this year either, but after the arena is closed and full of runners, they let a bull back into the crowd. Yes. They LET a bull back in. Luckily (?) these bulls are a bit smaller and their horns are tapped. But they are still extremely fast and angry.

A bull charges into the masses and knocks a ton of people down. Aaron and I run for the walls and try and climb out. Aaron is about to climb out when someone just pushes him over and he goes flying. I am just hanging on top of the fence as the bull passes.

They let the bull run around for a few minutes while runners try and touch the bull. Machismo at it’s highest. Bodies are flying all over the place.

The bull eventually gets to exit the arena and the crowd continues to erupt.

Well, it’s not quite over. They repeat this lone bull terrorizing activity about 6 times (new fully energized bull each time).

Here is a video I took of one of the runs. I’ve noted a few notable moments.



35 seconds..bull running right past me
55 seconds bull picks a guy up and he rides his head
1:50 me running for shear life
2:40 the bull jumps over the railing into the crowd and the policia jump into the arena because of it (not really well captured on the video)
3:58 the bull almost getting me again
4:14 a huge cow bull (?) comes out of no where and almost smokes me and the guy beside me

It’s finally over. They open up the arena and I leave. I’ve run with the bulls and walked away in one piece.

I go to our predetermined meeting spot and Nalin, John and Aaron are all there in one piece too. However, Nalin is doubled over in pain, but is ok. [Physiological side note #2 - A weird thing happened to all 4 of us during this event. I’m sure everyone has felt queasy at moments of nervousness. But all 4 of us (especially Nalin) felt like barfing after the run. Adrenalin overload? Any ideas?]

We all exchange our running stories. We all say how it was one of the greatest moments of our lives. And we all say how we would never do it again.

We walk back to the train ready to leave Pamplona. I have blood on the back of my t-shirt. It’s not mine. We see a guy walking along the street with his shirt ripped open and a foot print on his back.

Happy to be alive is an understatement. Great work boys:

NOTE:

1. To any haters that want to say: "You guys are chicken shits. Real men hit the bulls as they run by, chase them down in the arena, blah blah blah". Fine, fine. Whatever.
2. To any PETA folks that think the running is cruel. Well, I can’t say I disagree. But I have no problem eating meat either. Even foie gras and veal. Mmmm…baby cow. Go splash paint on someone wearing fur.