July 7
Pamplona, Spain - The running of the bulls, a most Spanish of celebrations, combining massive bulls and huge doses of adrenaline mixed with equally generous lashings of alcohol, got under way Saturday.

One person was gored in the buttock, and another runner suffered a shoulder injury. Both were evacuated by ambulance.

Altogether, seven people were treated for injuries, mostly cuts and bruises.

Last year an American man, 31, was thrown by a young cow in an event at the bullring following the first run. He underwent a 90-minute operation at the Hospital de Navarra to reattach two vertebrae.

"They don't know what they're doing; bulls can kill," said Ruben Munoz, 24, from Madrid, who has run with the bulls during each of the last five years. "I do it for the adrenaline and because I feel liberated."

The bulls, which are kept in an enclosure just outside the town center, are run daily during the San Fermin Festival to Pamplona's central bullring.

Injuries are common as the crowds strive to keep ahead of the bulls in narrow streets.

Since records began in 1924, 13 people have been killed. The last fatality, a 22-year-old American, was gored to death in 1995.

The San Fermin Festival dates back to the late 16th century but gained worldwide fame in Ernest Hemingway's 1926 novel "The Sun Also Rises."
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