There was huge excitement in St Mark's Junior National School in Tallaght this morning as Rhasidat Adeleke returned to the school where she was a former pupil.
Fresh back in the country, Adeleke was greeted with screams and cheers at the school in the west of the city. She explained it was only a flying visit, but the full-circle moment gave her a chance to reflect.
"I just make sure I'm in my training environment as much as possible, so I will be heading back before Christmas," Adeleke told RTÉ Sport.
"It is so nostalgic honestly, and it just makes me realise how far I have come. I was just here sitting in assemblies, and in class and assemblies just like everyone else and now my life has changed so much. It makes me appreciate my whole journey."
2025 was a challenging year with the 23-year-old being forced to withdraw from the World Championships in Tokyo but she has since returned to training.
"It was really hard, it was a very different year for me. I'm not someone who is usually injury prone and we took things to the next level training wise. I think my body was just breaking down, every time that I would get back healthy there was another niggle.
"I just wasn't able to get a consistent training cycle. Training has been going so well for the last few weeks. We have been making the relevant adjustments that I needed to make."
Adeleke confirmed a last-minute "hamstring strain" was the final straw for her season.
"It was several different injuries, from hamstring, to groin, to knee. They are all stimulating from a condition that I have and we are just trying to make sure that everything is managed and maintained.
"It was a last-minute decision when I had strained my hamstring about three weeks beforehand. So we had decided to call it quits for the season because it would have taken me too long to get back into shape."
While being on the track in Tokyo wasn't possible Adeleke travelled to Japan with her clothing sponsor Nike, all part of the exercise in leading a more "normal" life and recovering from her injury struggles.
It was the first major outdoor championships that Adeleke had missed and she wasn't sure what to expect from the experience of being a spectator for once.
"I was actually in Tokyo with Nike and I was aware that it would be hard to watch but it was way harder than I expected it to be and it gave me a lot of fuel for this season coming.
"It reminded me of my goals and motivated me, it was a bittersweet experience."
2026 may not present as many opportunities to use that fuel but the global down year may allow the Tallaght woman to reset after a challenging few months.
Next year will be capped off by the inaugural Ultimate Championship, an initiative by World Athletics that will take place every two years and serve as a grand conclusion to the track and field season.
Adeleke will also have a championship to target slightly closer to home, where she will hope to put her learnings from 2025 to good use.
"We have Europeans in Birmingham and the Ultimate Games in Budapest hopefully a couple of Diamond Leagues along the way.
"I miss racing so much, putting my spikes on and getting on the track and having that competitive mindset again, I'm excited and hopefully its a year for amazing things... 2025 taught me a lot."
Watch the European Cross Country Championships on Sunday from 10.45am on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player.
