Chicagoan, Spaniard gored at Spain's Running of the Bulls in Pamplona

PAMPLONA, Spain (WLS) -- Bill Hillman, 32, of Chicago, was one of two people gored during the running of the bulls at San Fermin festival in Pamplona, Spain.

The veteran runner is also the co-author of the book "Fiesta: How to Survive the Bulls of Pamplona."

Hillman was injured on Tuesday, July 9, when he tripped and fell. A 1,300- pound black bull gored him twice in the thigh. His injury is not life-threatening, according to his publisher at Chicago-based Curbside Splendor.

"This morning he was able to get on the horns and as he was running on the horns, he stumbled, and the bull at that point gored him in the leg. You can see in the photographs, the horns hitting Bill in the upper thigh, penetrating through his leg entirely and pushing him along the cobbled streets for several hundred feet," Jacob Knabb, editor-in-chief, said.

A Spanish runner was gored in the chest, and is in more serious condition. He has not been identified.

Knabb said Hillmann had surgery Tuesday morning, and is recovering with his wife is at his side.

Hillman is a longtime participant in the running of the bulls. He's known as "Buffalo Bill."

Hillman is a fan of writer Ernest Hemingway, whose 1926 novel "The Sun Also Rises" dramatized one of Spain's most famous fiestas. Several thousand people attend the event in which six fighting bulls run lose from a holding pen to Pamplona's bull ring.

"Being gored just sort of comes with the terrain. It's not like a badge of honor, but I think it's seen as sort of the price you pay to do it," Knabb said.

Fifteen people have died from gorings since record-keeping began in 1924. Dozens are injured each year, mostly from falls.

The bulls are killed in afternoon bullfights.