San Sebastian de los Reyes , Spain ( CNN ) -- Just weeks after a Chicago writer known as a veteran , expert bull runner was badly gored in Pamplona , he 's back at other smaller bull runnings in Spain , but walking with a cane . `` I really did n't think he was gon na gore me until it happened . I really thought I was going to find a way to escape , '' said Bill Hillmann , who helped write a book , `` Fiesta , How to Survive the Bulls of Pamplona , '' shortly before a bull 's horn tore into his right thigh . That was July 9 , the third day of Pamplona 's historic , annual eight consecutive days of running , which Hillmann says he 's run daily for numerous years . A bull got separated from the other five bulls toward the end of the 850-meter ( half-mile ) course . Hillmann was trying to help lead the lone bull toward the nearby bullring , but says he was pushed from behind , tripped and fell . `` I 've learned from this . I 'll always be much more worried about who 's behind me 'cause now I know , if I 'm not aware of there being first timers behind me or inexperienced guys , it could be me gored , '' said Hillmann , who turned 33 this month . He 's facing a â‚¬9,000 ( nearly $ 12,000 ) bill for hospital services in Pamplona , but is undaunted and is finishing a new book on how running with the bulls has changed his life . `` I was n't sure how I was going to end the book , but now I 'm pretty sure the ending is going to be the goring , '' he said . Expert American bull runner gored in Pamplona . Running with bulls 'tradition ' not cruelty . Pamplona 's running of the bulls dates back centuries and became world famous thanks to novelist Ernest Hemingway . But numerous other Spanish towns hold their own bull running each year , and Hillman arrived this week in San Sebastian de los Reyes , near Madrid , for its running . In these towns , he tends to catch up with with a small group of other traveling men -- Spaniards and foreigners -- who have become regular , serial bull runners . Hillmann brushes off criticism that the running of the bulls is animal cruelty . `` I do n't see anything cruel about it , '' he insists . `` The animals , they 're just running . They do n't get hurt in any way during the run . '' But they do tend to get killed in bullfights later that day . Surviving Pamplona 's running of the bulls . Yet Hillmann points to the old traditions involving the bull-running events . `` I think it 's fun , it 's exciting , '' Hillmann said of the running . `` I think it 's stupid for people who know nothing about a tradition to judge someone who knows a lot about it and who loves it . '' In San Sebastian de los Reyes , a group of Englishman proudly completed their first-ever bull running , and came across Hillmann , who was asked to pull up his right pants leg to show his hefty scar . They asked if Hillmann would keep running and he said yes , although he does n't expect that to be until next summer , after he 's fully healed . `` I need to build up my courage again , '' he said , earlier in the day . `` It 's gotten a lot scarier now that I know exactly how dangerous it is , now that it 's a reality . '' After reviewing video and photos on a laptop computer of the day he was gored , Hillmann grimaced , and said , `` Of course it was worth it . I knew the day I would get gored was coming . I was hoping I 'd survive . `` I was hoping it would n't stop me from continuing to run , and I was lucky enough to survive and it looks like I 'm going to be able to run again . '' Pamplona bull run 'selfie man ' sought by police .
Riding and running with bulls expert Bill Hillman was gored during run in Pamplona , Spain , in July . Hillman blames ' first timers ' or ' inexperienced guys ' for his injuries . Now walking with a cane , he recently attended a bull - running event in San Sebastian de los Reyes , near Madrid . Hillman says he plans to work with bulls in the future , possibly next summer .