San Fermín 2012

Mono Monday: 15 Minutes of Fame

In 2012 I took part in Pamplona's famous, or perhaps I should say notorious,  San Fermín festival of the running of the bulls.  

It should only take a fit person a few minutes to run the slightly uphill 875m course through the heart of the old town's narrow cobbled streets.  That morning with the throng of 2,000 other runners squeezed into the cordoned off run, it took considerably longer, despite the urgency of the situation - there's nothing like having 6 fighting bulls running towards you to inspire urgency.  So yes, 15 minutes from start to finish is probably about right.

It was all Ernest Hemingway fault.  The author of "The Sun Also Rises", that  legendary carouser, drinker, misogynist and boor journeyed to Pamplona on many occasions, but each time he came for San Fermín, the city's now famous fiesta of bullfighting and brutality, drink and song. It was Hemingway's first novel and masterpiece that put Pamploma's festival firmly on the map. 

Having turned 50 just over a year before, I remember sitting in the pub with some friends between Christmas and New Year when the subject of "bucket lists" was raised.  That list of things one really ought to get around to experiencing before one kicked the proverbial.  One of my friends admitted that it had always been their ambition to run with the bulls at Pamplona.  Before we had left the pub, we all agreed that we would do it the next year.  

Wives and partners were consulted, and negotiations commenced.  Amazingly enough no one backed out.  Although in the anxious 24 hours before the run, as the full impact of what we were about to attempt and the enormity of the risk finally really hit home, the stupidity of the whole idea caused even single one of us to have doubts and second thoughts.  If not even third, fourth and fifth thoughts.

The buzz though, when I finally completed the challenge and survived unscathed was an amazing high that lasted 24 hours.  Somewhere in those pictures you can actually see me, although to be honest, I am just one more head among many.

Would I recommend it to others?  Most definitely not.  Several people were gored the morning that I took part, but fortunately there was no fatality.  Would I do it again?  Most definitely not.  Am I glad I did it?  Well, strangely, yes, I really am.

“I can't stand it to think my life is going so fast and I'm not really living it.” 
Ernest Hemingway ~ "The Sun Also Rises"