SANTO DOMINGO: The adventure begins near the coral at the bottom of Pamplona's C/Santo Domingo as the first rocket is fired announcing the beginning of the day's encierro.  It can be dangerous to linger too long in this narrow pathway. You can almost reach out and touch the buildings on either side.  If this is your first time you glance quickly around at the faces in the crowd not knowing what to expect. Suddenly a cheer goes up as the rocket begins to climb into the summer sky, the rising sun, still low on the horizon, blinds you for a moment.

By now the lead runners have inched their way down Santo Domingo towards the holding pen. Suddenly they stop dead in their tracks and surge back up the slopping street as the bulls suddenly erupt from their holding pen full of pent up energy. Quickly overtaking the first runners, the lead animals part the crowd, allowing the steers to lead the way for six massive fighting bulls.  Nervous at first, the bulls keep their heads low, their bodies touching, forming a dangerous wedge. You feel the adrenaline rush, your heart pounds in your ears, the herd rushes by like the wind and hopefully you‚Äôve survived the ordeal unscathed. 

AYUNTAMIENTO & MERCADERES: The route widens at the top of Santo Domingo as it enters Plaza Consistorial and Ayuntamiento, the town hall square. If you started your run toward the top of Santo Domingo, and are lucky enough to have reached the palza one step ahead of the bulls, runnng as fast as your feet will carry you, you either dive for cover under the nearest barricade or continue headlong, racing across the plaza towards the entrance to Mercaderes on your left. Here the street narrows once again, but is smooth, with stone pavers. the bulls, having crested Santo Domingo in a matter of seconds, will slow their pace slightly if the streets are still in the lead, but the fighting bulls are younger and faster than steers and may have already overtaken the lead steer, increasing the danger.

If you go down in the open, stay down until the bulls have passed. A runner was killed in front of the town hall in Plaza Consistorial in 1995 when, after being knocked down by the crowd, got back up as the lead bull entered the plaza. 

ESTAFETA: Once you reach the end of Mercaderes the route takes a sharp turn to the right at the famous, "La Curva", which leads onto Calle Estafeta, the long, narrow canyon-like street lined with shops and tapas bars, where the doors have been boarded up, giving you nowhere to hide once the gate swings close behind you.  This has always been a dangerous spot for the experienced runner as well as the novice, but now, with the use of the anti-slip surfacing on the smooth stone pavers at the corner, fewer animals tend fall on the turn, reducing the possibility that the bulls will become separated from the herd.  But the pace of the encierro has picked up over the last few years because of the anti-slip surfacing, creating a new set of problems as you run with the bulls up Estafet

If you are running here you should try to keep to the right of the animals as you enter Estafeta.  The bulls will usually drift towards the left, carried by their weigh and momentum, even though they have slowed slightly coming down Mercaderes.  If you make a mistake and find yourself on the left side of the bulls, on the out side of the turn, going into the corner, you may wish you were somewhere else.

If you make it through the corner and are up for a short run, you will find that the safest place to run with the bulls is between the white lines, which used to mark the curb and gutter when the street was still paved with cobblestones.  You will also find that the crowd standing against the walls along Estafeta can prove more dangerous at this point than bulls.

TELEFONICA: If you happen to make it down the Calle Estafeta just ahead of, or running with the bulls, you'll find yourself at Telefonica, which marks the end of Estafeta.  Both sides of this short section are lined with a double row of wooden barricades that directs the bulls toward the Callejon and the entrance of the Plaza de Toros.  Telefonica is fairly wide, but the path quickly narrows as it breaks to the left and slopes down to the Callejon. 

The pace of the bulls has slowed slightly as they ran up Estafeta, but you want to keep especially alert here, as the runners bunch up, increasing the danger, especially if the bulls have separated.  The last runner to die from a bull horn, a third generation veteran from Pamplona, died pinned against the barricade, unable to move out of the way because of the crowd.

CALLEJON: This is narrow corridor, more of a funnel, fills rapidly with bodies and razor sharp horns as runners and bulls try to share the same space at the entrance to the bullring.  If you find yourself here, you want to keep moving and never glance back.  It's too late for second thoughts if a bull is only one step behind you.  The real danger here is if someone goes down either in the Callejon, or as you pass through the doors of the bullring.  Several runners, including experienced ones, have been seriously injured when trapped by a fighting bull in the tight confines leading into the bullring.

PLAZA de TOROS: Once you have passed through the doors and are inside the bullring, move quickly to the left or right, keeping clear of the entry and the center of the ring, and keep alert.  Give the bulls plenty of room as they head towards their pens on the other side of the Plaza. 

Remember, bulls have excellent peripheral vision and quick reflexes.  They can turn on a dime, on the street or on the sand, and be on you in a flash.