First run back, and the body remembered

First run back after the holiday. I kept it deliberately unambitious — normal route, normal distance, easy pace, strategic walks. Not the long run I’d half-wanted to do, just a gentle “hello legs, we’re back.”

And the body had things to say.

Early on there was that warm, burning sort of feeling around my waist — the love handles, if we’re being honest — the kind of sensation I remember from my very first runs back in June, when I hadn’t been active in a long time. Then it travelled down and settled into the front of my shins for a little while. Not pain exactly. More like my body clearing its throat, reminding me it had been off duty for a couple of weeks and was now being asked to remember how this works.

I persevered through it. And here’s the good part: somewhere in the middle, it faded, and my legs just… carried me. The same way they’ve carried me over this exact route and distance a dozen times before. Nothing lost. The holiday didn’t erase the work — it just let it rest.

That’s the reassuring lesson of the break: fitness built patiently doesn’t vanish in a week off. The body files it away and hands it back when you return. You just have to ease in and let it wake up rather than demanding it perform on the first morning.

So: an easy 5.18 km, a body clearing the cobwebs, and legs that remembered exactly what to do. A good, honest restart. Now we build again — and this time there’s a 10 km race on the calendar in September to build toward.

Back on the road. It’s good to be back.