I Want To Run With The Bulls!

I'm in.

I've wanted to do it since I was a kid. It's probably the most popular non-sexual bucket list item for men.

I'll be standing on a balcony drinking and watching the carnage.

tons of people do it. the thing is they dont let you near the bulls unless youre experienced etc. all the tourists n all start in tiers and your way in front.

I regret not doing it when I was younger and still athletic enough to jump and pull myself up on balconies when shit got heavy.

I did it two summers ago. It is much safer than it sounds. The real risk is being too drunk because it happens around 8am.

It was cool but not a life changer or anything.

I ran with the aussies and americans bulls this year. Was staying in a hostel in London looking for work when I met a few guys from Sydney who had bought a school bus converted into a camping car; with the plan to surf the atlantic coast of France, Spain and Portugal. Became friends, they invited me along. One of the two bookings in advance they had made was a stay at a campsite in Zarautz (60km from Pamplona), with the intention of doing the run (other was the tomatina :eyeroll:). Was full of aussies, kiwis and yanks, bit of a change to some of the campsites in France that only had old frenchies and germans who liked sitting around in their underwear. It was pretty loose, 5 euro for all you can drink beer / sangria. The Pamplona opening ceremony was ridiculous, basically people spraying each other with sangria all day, everyone drinking in the main square and surrounding streets. Had never seen anything like it. We ran with the bulls on the second day; up early, on a bus from the campsite into Pamplona. I had actually decided to watch rather than run, but on the day we were walking together towards the clock-tower and found ourselves in the street where it took place, people absolutely everywhere, the gates were closed behind us and so it was on. There was a bit of a wait, then a cannon shot, then utter chaos. The people (probably equal amounts of aussies / americans / spanish) almost as dangerous as the 600kg bulls themselves. Stopping, turning around, falling over, pushing people into the middle, fuck. I lost a shoe amidst the chaos but didnt stop to bend and pick it up. Ass in the air? Fuck that. We sprinted forwarded after the cannon shot, got around the inside part of 'dead man's corner' (bulls lack traction control and swing out to the left when turning right), then stood flat against the wall as they passed. There are two runs, the first being the big horn bastards, the second (few minutes later), the cows. I believe you can only make it into the arena (parade of sorts, baby bulls etc) if you beat the cows to it.

The only people i saw pulled out from the crowd prior to the start of the run were the excessively drunk. Anyone else could pretty much work their way to wherever they wanted. None of us had done it before, and bulls passed within 2 meters of us.

Also, apparently the locals don't like people touching the bulls, one guy at the campsite had his nose broken; he touched one and copped a strike across the face with a stick.

Would not do it again.

Yeah, I did it a few years ago. Like emc said, it was kind of cool but not life changing. West couldn't be more wrong though. As long as you're not falling over yourself drunk you can pretty much do whatever you want. Even with crowd control (there really isn't any) once they separated everyone to the different starting points the police all left and you were pretty much free to work around to wherever you want to be in the crowd. They run pretty damn fast though, so the actual time spent along side them really isn't that long, even if you're a pro sprinter because you can only move as fast as the drunk ass crowd.

The highlight for me though was after getting in to the stadium and watching all the drunk people get plowed over by the smaller bull that they pretty much just let loose on anyone left in the arena after the bigger bulls and steers go through.

This sounds awesome. Tick and Harvey, let's do this shit.

It seems like a good time. I did La Tomatina last year, I had a blast....lots of people do both since they're a month apart or so. Lots of Aussies.

not sure if I'd do the running of the bulls....i have a bum knee.