Running of — and from — the bulls

By Rob Miech

Monday, July 7, 2008 | 2 a.m.

The second rocket burst. My buddy RT and I looked at each other. We had talked about running with the bulls in Pamplona for months in 1997. Now was the moment of truth.

Here they come.

Adrenaline tingled my ears. Streetlights dimmed as the sun’s first rays sneaked between rickety three- and four-story buildings.

The cobblestones of the narrow, harrowing streets glistened from dew, beer, sangria and human waste. Revelers passed out on street benches and in grassy parks.

The nine-day party had begun.

The Running of the Bulls, or El Encierro, of the annual San Fermin Festival, starts again today in Pamplona.

I still get a rush thinking about the adventure that started with RT in a tiny bar in Amsterdam, where we smoked Cuban cigars with three Air Force AWACS pilots and watched Mike Tyson chomp Evander Holyfield’s ear.

We trudged up the hill from the train depot in Pamplona with no hotel reservations. Stay positive, RT. By noon, we found a room in an inn.

We mingled with locals, drank sangria from bota bags like Eddie Albert and Errol Flynn in the 1957 classic movie “The Sun Also Rises,” and wondered about those bulls.

Night became day, and they were released at that second rocket. We bolted, wearing red handkerchiefs around our necks and red sashes around our waists, as if a tornado was coming. And we hid, behind a building at the first turn, a lazy left. The animals looked like a herd of dairy cows scared of their own shadows.

For 24 hours we laughed, crowed and toasted each other. We mingled among the Comparsa de Gigantes, the daily parade of enormous puppets. The next morning, we would be fearless. We asked a few people about the gold M’s dangling from their necklaces.

Stands for Miura, extremely ferocious bulls responsible for many matador deaths and named after the Spanish estate on which they were raised.

Those were running today.

When that second rocket fired seconds later, we covered the slippery 825 meters like Olympians. We executed a tight right turn at Estafeta Street — Hamburger Corner — like rabbits.

We were snug in doorways when the beasts snarled by.

Shaken, we filled our bota bags, passed a 20-foot bust of Ernest Hemingway and bought tickets to bullfights that wouldn’t take place in a 19,529-seat bullring.

The terrorist group ETA murdered a young political figure. The bullfights were canceled. A pall fell over Pamplona.

We zipped to Paris on a bullet train for Bastille Day, a gold M permanently etched in my mind.

THIS WEEK’S BEST BET

NBA Summer League, 1 p.m. Friday, Cox Pavilion

This is the first of 10 consecutive days of hoops. Look for former UNLV players Louis Amundson (Golden State) and Wendell White (L.A. Lakers). At least four games will be played daily. Check the Web site below for the schedule.

TICKETS: $20-$100 (daily); $150-$900 (season)

ON THE WEB: www.unlvtickets.com

ALSO WORTH A LOOK

Las Vegas 51s vs. Tucson, 7:05 p.m. Thursday, Cashman Field

It’s Thursday, so it’s dollar beer night at the ballpark. The 51s will try to edge closer to the top of their division against the basement-dwelling Sidewinders.

TICKETS: $8-$13

ON THE WEB: www.lv51.com