HURRAY WARNERS ALIVE!!!!
We got to Pamplona around 6pm. We went to the lockers to drop off our packs and met two people (Micha and Emily) with the exact same plans as us (absolutly nothing). The 4 of us walked downtown to see a crazy mass of people in red and white. We all bought some form of the outfit...since everybody had it on. We went to the tourist office to get a map of the run for Warner and Micha and then decided to walk the course. By the time we made it through all the people and through the course it was time to go meet our friends at the train station. We got to the train station and off the 11pm train came a ton of crazy spaniards and travelers. We found our friends Doug and Scott and took them to the lockers. While we were there we met 4 more people with our same plans (Tom, Parker, Gary and Jay). So now we had 10 people. All of us went back downtown and walked around filling ourseves with a mixture of sangria and beer and red bull (for warner). We walked the course again and at the beginning we saw the tamed bulls that come after the wild bulls to make sure they dont go the wrong way (the wild bulls not been exposed to much to humans). Aroud 3:30 in the morning we all went and found a grassy spot to fall asleep for a little while. It was freezing outside so we all piled up together close (or as Emily called it "nuts to butts"). Around 5 it was time to get up and get ready for the run. We walked to the course around 6 and the runners (the 8 boys) and the spectators (Ellen and Emily) said our goodbyes.
Ellens side of the run.
Emily and I went and found a good spot and stood there for about 1 min until these crazy police came and said "todos atras". They did not wait for everybody to move....they just started closing this gate on up to make an area right off the course for the paramedics....this made me nervous. Now we could not see anything so we climbed up on this railing....which had a little better of a view but not much. I impatiently waited for 8am to come around. At 8 I heard the first gunshot (the gate was let open) then the second shot (all the bulls had left the cage). I waited and about 1 min later I heard the sound of running. Then a massive blob of red and white began to run by. Then I heard the clattering of hooves ang grunting. I held my camera up in hope to get some good shots. About 20 seconds later they all had past and then I saw the 1 tame bull rounding everything up at the end. Now I had to go find Warner and make sure he was still alive with no bull horns through him
Warners side of the run
So around 6 I split up from the girls and headed into the street with the other guys. The course was 800 metres long qnd we picked a spot where there was 300 metres til the ring. 4 of the guys went further up(i guess they were a little more scared). Around 7:30, the police made everybody on the street that was within 400 metres leave because there were too many people(that included us). So we ran along a side street and hopped back onto the street, which put us only 200 metres from the bulls instead of 500 metres. At this time, the 3 other guys and I got a little nervous. It was extremely crowded and a lot closer to the bulls. About ten minutes before the shot, people slowly started to work there way towards where we were earlier. With a minute to go, we said our goodbyes to each other(knowing we would be split up) and hoped that we were not killed. The first shot rang and everybody started running(i learned i was only as fast as the person in front of me). Two of the guys took off while micha and I slowly trotted until we could see the bulls coming around the corner. When we saw the bulls, we took off. The scary part was that you constantly lost sight of the bulls through the mobs of people. Next thing I know, the crowd parts and there was a bull heading full speed behind me. With the bull behind me, I crossed to the other side of the street and luckily the bull went pass me. After that, i rounded the final corner and headed into the ring. The ring was full of runners who had already arrived and stood towards the side, blocking any way of jumping out. I stood towards the side, waiting for all the bulls to run through the ring, hoping one does not decide to turn towards me. All the bulls entered the ring and exited pretty quickly and then the final shot was heard, indicating all the bulls had exited!!!!!!!!!! Then it was time to find ellen....i knew she would be panicing til she saw that i had survived.
Walfredo
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