Pamplona Bull Run

July 7, 2018: Last night James left and drove back into Spain to check off a long time goal from his bucket list; running with the bulls in Pamplona. He arrived in the city around 8:00pm and drove around looking for a place to park the car. He walked into the main plaza to be certain he know how long it would take him to walk there in the morning. James was amazed by the magnitude of the festival and party atmosphere in Pamplona. People of every age were out on the streets, every single one dressed in white with red scarves and handkerchiefs. The streets were packed, music was blasting out of every bar, and live bands were playing in many places. James went back to the car around 10:30pm to try and sleep (he slept in the car). At midnight there was a giant firework show and around 2:00am the street he was parked on was finally quiet even though people continued to party all night in the city center.

This morning, just before 6:00am, James started making his way to the main plaza where the runners gather. By 6:20 he was in the plaza waiting for the event to start at 8:00am.

You have to be there early because the police close the plaza off to runners at 7:20am and don't let anyone else in to begin running from the start. The course is cleared at that point and the cops start pushing anyone not inside the plaza out, effectively not allowing them to take part.

At 7:30 the police allowed the runners to move forward and start spreading out a little bit down the route. Then around 7:50 they opened up the rest of the route so you could choose where you wanted to begin your run from.

James had researched the course and picked the longest straightaway on the route, just past dead man's turn on Calle Estafete. This is the sharp right turn the course takes where you often see bulls slip on the cobblestones. James was about 100 yards up the route after that turn on the right hand side of the street. James said he felt excited, nervous, jittery and apprehensive. The firework went off signaling the release of the bulls and an excited roar went up from the runners. Some nervous runners already started running towards the bullring. Not more than a minute later a whole wave of people went running up the street. James let this wave pass, having read that the first wave of anxious runners went ahead trying to get out of the way of the bulls early. Before he knew it someone yelled, "BULLS"! In an instant the bulls were right there and he turned and ran with the crush of people up the cobblestone road. He said he was about 6 feet away from the bulls running to the left of him. He kept his right hand out in front of him on the guys back in front, ready to dodge anyone who might fall in his path. The bulls were past him very quickly and he sprinted the rest of the way into the jam packed bull ring. They release a cow and baby bulls in the crowded bull ring and James said it caused a wave of panic unlike anything he had seen before. People who thought they were totally in the clear and just taking pictures freaked out and went sprinting for the walls when they thought a real bull was loose. James stayed in the ring to watch for 15 minutes or so to watch the action before heading back to the car. We were very relieved to hear from him!

In much less interesting news, the girls and I had a mellow morning wandering around the town of Luz Saint-Sauveur and swimming in the pool. James got back around 12:00.