The Running Of The Bulls Day 1 - July 7

Where is Waldo?????

Matt

Matt and half of Dustin.  He is the one with the red shirt and white pants....



We woke up to the sound of pouring rain on our "villa" in San Sebastian.  We left at around 5:45, 15 minutes later than usual.  But there was almost no one on the roads but a few trucks so we made it with plenty of time.

This morning was the first day of actual running.  And there was no rain although a bit chilly.  We all had a morning coffee and said our goodbye's to Jen and hoped she would have a good "picture" run for us.  We planned our route of attack on the Callejon which is the far end right before the entrance into the ring.  After doing our homework the night before, we found out that the bulls running today were rated the 2nd most dangerous bulls with 7 out of 10 gorings in the last 10 years.  Matt, Dustin and myself all piled in the church square at 7:20ish.  There were  ton of people there today, and a lot of rookies.  When they finally released us to take our spots along the run, for some reason it took longer to get out of the church square than usual.  We were still on the Ayuntamiento when the first rocked went off.  It was on!  Matt was a few steps ahead of Dustin and I, so when we finally had room to run we sprinted up the Estafeda in hopes of reaching the Callejon.  The second rocket was off telling us that all the bulls were out of the gate.  I lost Matt and Dustin as there were a ton of people.  But I stopped to catch my breath and I heard the sound of cow bells getting louder and closer.  I started to run as the bulls ran right past me.  There was a big black one that was lagging behind and I got to touch it a couple of times but there was no video sadly...... (but there was a shot of me at the waist down by the bull)
Matt and Dustin had the better spotlight with Matt getting the high score.  Both Matt and Dustin make it into the video with Matt leading the charge out of the tunnel and into the middle of the ring!  Word on the street was Matt was on CNN.  ??????  After the run the "baby" bulls came out and I got a few touches in with a guest appearance in Goggle images!!  Bo-yaa.  It was a great run all around but Matt and Dustin has set the bar for me to bring my A game tomorrow.  But the "beard" does seem to have some fans here as I am asked for a picture or two from people who love it.  I should charge a euro per picture and I could make some money!

After a quick shower and a looooong ride to Bilboa, we arrived at the Guggenheim museum after trying to find a parking spot.  We got the quick tour of the museum because we had only an hour and a half before the meter ran out.  I did scare a few children there which was kind of funny.  It was a good day all around and am looking forward to tomorrow....