American Who Was Gored In The Running With The Bulls Insists He Had The 'Best Time Ever'

SPAIN - The 39-year-old painter from New Jersey spoke to The Local from his hospital bed in Pamplona just hours after receiving the injury during the penultimate run of the annual San Fermin festival. “I’ve feeling alright,” he said. “All in all it’s been one of the best experiences of my life.” He described the moment that the half-tonne animal, a fighting bull named ‘Ilustrado’, charged into him on the approach to the Town Hall Square. “I was running and I got caught up in some human traffic, I turned and saw the bull heading towards me and I just thought ‘run faster, get out of the way’, I had about three four strides to get away but I guess I didn’t get out of the way quickly enough.” As he tried to reach the safety of the barrier the bull caught him and pierced his left thigh. “I knew I had been punctured but at that moment the adrenalin was so great that it didn’t really hurt as much as it should have done. I didn’t realize it was so bad,” he said. He insists that he will return one day to run again.

Really. So the time you reenacted the opening scene from City Slickers (minus it being fake and getting paid millions part) and got punctured by a 2-ton beast with horns is one of the greatest moments in your life? I guess if you’re a painter from New Jersey you don’t exactly have a lot of high standards of experiences. I can see how this could rank higher than that day trip to Great Adventure or Seaside Heights. But you know what else would’ve been fun? Not getting gored. Or just golfing/going to the beach and not having to worry about running for your life from pissed off creatures straight outta Greek Mythology who have been poked and prodded to take out everything in their path. I’d even venture to say staying in Jersey would’ve been a slight improvement than that experience. The stench to stitches trade off is well worth it in this one.

I know someone (and a bunch of bulls) died during this, so obviously it could’ve been a lot worse. At least the bull spared his pants, so I guess he’s got that going for him, which is nice.