About STRIDE
Helping education move.
STRIDE is a running community for people who work in education.
We bring people together through running and movement — creating opportunities to build healthier habits, make connections and create space beyond work.
For some, that means racing and chasing personal bests. For others, it’s a first run, a walk after work or simply getting outside more often.
What matters isn’t how far or how fast you move. It’s finding a stride that works for you.
Why STRIDE exists.
People who spend their working lives helping others to flourish need space to flourish too.
Working in education can be enormously rewarding. It can also be demanding and consuming. Time becomes scarce, work follows us home and the things that help us stay healthy and connected can gradually get squeezed out.
STRIDE exists to create something alongside that work: a community where people across education can move, connect and make space for something beyond the job.
It doesn’t pretend running fixes the pressures facing education.
It does recognise that movement, connection and time away from work can be valuable resources in our lives.
More than miles.
STRIDE isn’t about how far or how fast you run. It’s about what happens along the way: healthier habits, clearer headspace, new connections, shared experiences and a sense of belonging.
Some members walk. Some run. Some run-walk. Some race. Others are just getting started.
Different strides. Same community.
Meet the Founder
Hi, I’m Michael Walker.
I’m a headteacher and runner, and I’ve loved running for as long as I can remember.
I competed for Wakefield Harriers as a child and loved racing, but just as importantly I loved belonging to a running community.
Then life got busier.
As my career in education developed, running often became one of the first things to disappear. There was always something else that needed doing.
Eventually I realised I didn’t need to find time. I needed to make time.
Running became space to think, get outside, explore, meet people and have something in my life that existed beyond work.
That’s where STRIDE began.
Not because running solves every challenge facing people in education — it doesn’t — but because I wanted to create a community where people who understand those pressures could encourage one another to move, connect and make space for themselves too.
That’s STRIDE.
What we believe…
Participation before performance.
You don’t need to be fast, experienced or even call yourself a runner.
Every stride matters.
Walk. Jog. Run. Run-walk. It all counts.
Belonging matters.
Education is our shared world. Movement is what brings us together.
There is no single right stride.
What is sustainable will look different for different people and at different times.
Movement is a resource, not a cure.
Running can support healthier lives, but it doesn’t remove unreasonable workload or fix harmful working conditions.
Community should add something, not demand something.
Join in as much or as little as works for you.
