Gored 2 Times by Bulls, American Ready to Run Again

An American gored two times already while running with the bulls in Spain is willing to risk a third time, People reports. Author Bill Hillmann was living his Ernest Hemingway fantasy in northern Spain on Saturday when a bull gored his buttocks and tossed him in the air. The Chicago man hit the ground, looked back, "and he was just on me,” Hillmann tells People. "At the last second, he shot me straight up in the air. The horns just went in in a really weird way." As the 1,200-pound beast named Sentido stormed away along the narrow streets of Pamplona, Hillmann says he didn't feel "piercing pain" and managed to pick himself up and walk to find help. He didn't realize he'd been gored until "the medics pulled my pants down and there was blood everywhere."

Hillmann, 35, spent 36 hours in the hospital but vowed to run with the bulls again on Monday. "I’m a daredevil at heart. It’s just who I am," he says. The last time Hillmann, who has run with the bulls at the annual San Fermin festival for 12 years, caught the wrong end of a horn was in 2014. That goring badly tore up a leg. "The first time, I wasn't walking for a week," he tells the AP. There have been five gorings and other minor injuries since the festival began on Friday. One victim, a 22-year-old California man, had his left arm impaled and was dragged for several yards, per the AP. (Hillmann is also the author of a book on how to survive the running of the bulls.)