The awakening process for the runner is directly tied to the chaser’s surrender. From what I’ve experienced… It’s more gradual.
They’re thinking about you way more than you probably realize. Even when it looks like they’ve moved on or they’re ignoring you completely, every single person who was a runner and comes back or reverses role has said they went through this. Runners think about their twin obsessively throughout separation. The connection exists at the soul level, so they literally cannot forget you, no matter how hard they try.
The running is about them confronting their own stuff, not about you at all.
They start feeling the absence, questioning why other connections feel hollow (like your runner already mentioned!), and slowly piecing together what this means. You can’t force their awakening by explaining it to them or holding space for them energetically. They need to come to it themselves, and that usually happens when you’re genuinely focused on your own healing rather than waiting for them to ‘get it.’
One sign is when they start reaching out after periods of silence, or when the energy between you shifts from them pulling away to them subtly leaning in.