About STRIDE

Helping education move means more than putting one foot in front of the other.

It means helping people across education build healthier habits, stronger relationships and more sustainable lives.

Running creates space to think, time to breathe and opportunities to connect. It can strengthen our physical and mental wellbeing, build resilience and give us something that exists beyond the demands of work.

Because when the people who dedicate their lives to others flourish, education flourishes too.

Why STRIDE exists.

STRIDE began with a simple idea: the people who spend their lives helping others to flourish need space to flourish too.

Working in education can be enormously rewarding, but it can also be consuming. Time becomes scarce, work can follow us home and looking after ourselves can gradually slip down the list.

STRIDE exists to help change that.

More than miles.

Running gives us something remarkably simple: the chance to step away, clear our heads and move. It can create space to think, build confidence and resilience, strengthen relationships and give us a sense of belonging.

But STRIDE isn’t really about how far or how fast you run.

It’s about creating healthier habits. Making time for ourselves. Connecting with other people across education. And building healthier, more sustainable lives alongside the work we care about.

The miles are simply where it begins.

Meet the Founder

Hi, I’m Michael Walker.

I’ve loved running for as long as I can remember.

As a child, I competed for Wakefield Harriers. I loved the excitement of race day and the challenge of trying to improve, but perhaps most importantly, I loved the sense of belonging that came from being part of a running community.

Then life got busier.

I became a teacher and later a headteacher, and like many people working in education, I convinced myself there simply wasn’t enough time. Running came and went as work and everything else took priority.

Eventually, I realised I didn’t need to find time.

I needed to make time.

During some particularly demanding periods in my career, running became far more than exercise. It gave me space to think, reflect, reconnect with nature, solve problems and sometimes simply breathe.

Today, I’m back running with Wakefield Harriers. I still love racing and chasing the occasional personal best, but running has become about much more than that. It’s taken me to new places, introduced me to new people and given me countless hours exploring trails, paths and places I might otherwise never have discovered.

Some days I run hard. Some days I run slowly. Sometimes I run with others and sometimes I need the space of running alone.

What matters is that I run.

I’ve experienced first-hand the difference that protecting this part of my life can make. Running helps me think more clearly, manage pressure and create space beyond work. And I believe I’m better able to sustain a demanding career because I’ve learnt that looking after myself isn’t something that has to wait until everything else is done.

That’s why I created STRIDE.

Not because I think running solves every challenge facing people working in education. It doesn’t.

I created it because I know how difficult and consuming this work can be. And I know how easy it is for the people who spend their days looking after everybody else to stop making time for themselves.

STRIDE is my attempt to help change that.

To create a community where people across education can encourage one another, discover what running can give them and build healthier, happier and more sustainable lives.

Because education needs great people.
And great people need the time and space to flourish.

Whether you’re thinking about your first walk or run, returning after years away or training for your next marathon, there’s a place for you in STRIDE.

We believe…