Today is the day!

So by now you all know that Wayne did run and is safe and sound!

Today is the day everyone has been waiting for especially Wayne!

We were up again bright an early to head into town.  We met up with our Philadelphia friends who were all running .. when we got to town Wayne and I were separated.. He went off with the runners and I went to the arena to wait for his arrival with a few others from the group.

The arena was like a baseball game! There was a band playing , then dancers , a kiss cam and even a Tee shirt rocket gun! It is quite the party atmosphere .  The crowd was young, mostly 20 something's still up from the night before.  I had rough the bottle of champagne that The Hotel Claude gave us to celebrate after but it was taken away at the entrance .

I was with Judy from Virginia.  They were in Spain doing the Camino trail.  Her husband was also running so we were counting the minutes to get start of the run then just on the look out to be sure everyone got into the arena safely.

I told Wayne and our new friends that we would be sitting at 3:00 and of course I introduced them to lighthouse!

Wayne was at constitutional square until about 750, at that point the police line opened up and he was able to move down the course to the spot he wanted to start.

At exactly 800 the first rocket is set off meaning the gate is open, then about 10 seconds later the 2nd rocket goes off and the bulls are running.  The arena is going crazy the entire time!

Some runners start coming into the arena.. way too early.. then just a minute later you can tell the runners who have a herd of bulls chasing them.  Their are moving much faster and the fear in their face is clear!

Everyone with our tour company is given a lime green penny to wear .. it definitely helped me find everyone quickly when they entered the arena.  We found everyone in our group and they all made it into the area.  Of course I spotted them right away and lighthouse went into action... they immediately found us in the crowd and gave the signal that all was well..


They then proceed to have what they call run with the cows.. now I am not quite sure I would call these cows.. they are huge and not happy to be running around in a arena with a few hundred people taunting them .  We saw plenty of people get flipped around when they got a little too close .

They had about 5 different cows come into the ring and as each one tired they brought in the next one.

At one point I noticed Jeremy and Lauren being let out of the arena by a paramedic.. through some sign language with Wayne I learned that he hurt his arm and was going to get it checked out.

After the run was all over we headed to the group designated meeting point which was of course a bar.  We met up with Lauren and Christine and learned that Jeremy was headed to the hospital with his brother Ian who is a nurse practitioner so they thought it best for him to accompany him to the hospital.

We sat and everyone traded their war stories.. most frightening and exhilarating thing I have ever done.  There are very few women who run so Lauren and Christine were definitely in the minority .. they had a great run!

Wayne talked about others they met in tbe crowd and how he decided that when everyone else started running he waited a few more seconds until he actually saw a bull running.. and said at that point he could not get his legs moving fast enough quick enough and felt like he was in a pinball machine!

One of the most dangerous parts of the run , besides the huge unpredictable bulls rushing towards you, is other people and falling. A lot of people get hurt while trying to get up.  The rule is is you fall down, stay down.  Cover your head and wait for someone to tap you on the shoulder that it is ok to get up.

After coffee and running stories we headed back to he hotel for breakfast and then Slept a little longer.  We found out that Jeremy was getting an X-ray done.

Tonight we have a bull fight and a late dinner and fireworks so we though it was a good idea to get some rest now.

We found out later that Jeremy had broken his elbow/arm and was  in a cast! He even made the local newspapers where they put all of the days injuries.

Today was crazy, scary, exhilarating and INSANE! I am glad it is over and we got such a great picture of Wayne in action  from the photographer! No doubt he was there and RAN WITH THE BULLS!

Here is a clip from the cbs news!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XR5MgfEoa4g&sns=fb