Monday 24 September 2007

Two steps forward, one step back...

The Fat Runner is running again! But not really out of choice, and now it looks like he's put his overall recovery back a bit...

So why did he start running so early - only two days after having his stitches out? Well it's all because of Network Rail. Probably.

He was flying to Sweden on Thursday evening so took the Heathrow Express out of London, leaving plenty of time to get to his flight. So far, so good, but the train eventually arrived 35 minutes late, meaning TFR had to run through the terminal to get to check-in on time. It's probably not a long run, perhaps only 1k, but TFR was surprised at how his legs felt, even running in hard-soled shoes. The thing he thought would take longest to heal, the gastrocnemius strain, didn't flare up at all.

But the wound has started to bleed again. There is a large scab over it so it's difficult to see how much healing has been undone, but it looks like TFR still needs to stay off the roads...

So why was it Network Rail's fault? For those who don't know, Network Rail is the new Railtrack, and it owns and manages the UK's rail infrastructure. According to the Heathrow Express driver, there was a faulty signal which meant he needed to slam the emergency brakes on, and once you've deployed the emergency brake there is a lengthy process to restart the train. And then it must have taken some time to find a new time slot on the track.

So that's how TFR ended up 35 minutes late at Heathrow, and STILL CAN'T RUN

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