Inspiring striding - Diane Wagstaff

We have so much love for our happystride community ❤️ You guys are so inspiring and we want to get to know you a little better...and we know others would like to as well.

SO we bring you to....the next post in our blog series ..."Inspiring striding"!!! We have the amazing Diane Wagstaff join us!🖊

We are sooo pleased to have Diane as our guest! Diane is a massive happystride fan and she is a massive advocate for us always talking to happystiders at races and shouting about happystride! Diane got into running in 2004 and has run 5ks, half marathons, marathons and ultras!

So if you want to know Diane's favourite place to run and who her running inspiration is please read on!

Thanks so much Diane for joining in with our blog ❤️ 

I ran as a child, I loved cross country running at Greensward School, I’ve always been a bit of a tomboy, which is probably why I love trail running, a bit of mud never hurt anybody!  I also ran 1,500m in the district sports representing Greensward.

 I didn’t start running as an adult until 2004.  My mum’s best friend died from breast cancer and when I read about Race for Life, a 5k run raising money for Cancer Research UK, I decided I’d run it.  I trained, ran the race and then nothing until Race for Life the following year, when I did it again.  With 2 young children of 6 and 10 and my elder child being disabled, I didn’t have a lot of free time for running.

However, after Race for Life in 2005, I got bitten by the running bug.  5k led to 10k and then in July 2007 I ran my first half marathon.  It was during this run that I came to terms with my body shape.  All my friends were tall with big boobs, and I was the short one with a flat chest.  I realised I was built this way as I’m built to run!  Running became my ‘me time’ an escape from everyday life, which as the mum of a physically disabled child, wasn’t easy.

On 27th May 2008, at the age of 42, I ran my first marathon – my mid-life crisis marathon.  I wanted to prove to my children, and myself, that if you put in the work, you can achieve your goals.  I ran 5 days per week with a friend, fitting in our long run during the week while our children were at school.  Clare ran the London Marathon and I ran the Halstead & Essex Marathon – a marathon with hills! I finished in 4 hours 36 minutes, which is my current Personal Best, but I’m aiming to beat that!  I almost managed it at the Chelmsford Marathon in October 2022.  I was running with the 4:30 pacer, but unfortunately I tripped and fell around mile 21, spent 10 minutes with the paramedics, walked a mile and still finished in 4:45, so I know I have a PB left in me.

 It was 10 years before I ran my second marathon, London, in April 2018.  I got a ballot place and raised £2,500 for Whizz Kidz in memory of my son Sam who died suddenly in July 2016 following a cardiac arrest.  I wasn’t in the right headspace for this one and it was the hottest London Marathon on record, which didn’t help. When I finished, I couldn’t find my family, I picked up my kit bag and sat and sobbed over a photo of Sam.

I'm not and never will be the fastest runner.  Back in the day when I was training for my first marathon, I ran the Southend 10K in 48:26, but I was 42 and just under 8 stone then, I certainly can't do that now!  I also achieved my half marathon PB during this training block - I ran the Brentwood Half in 2008 in 1:53:03  

My 5k PB is 24:23 which I achieved during the London Winter Run in February this year.  I also ran my first Ultramarathon this year, one week after my 60th birthday.  My time at the C2C / Gold Geese Essex Ultra Marathon (50k) was 6:26:38 and I was amazed to come in first woman in my age category!

Anywhere as long as it on the trails, although if I had to pick a favourite place I'd probably have to say Hockley Woods as I used to go horse riding there as a child and have spent many happy hours in the woods with my family and volunteering at Hockley Woods parkrun. I became an official trail runner in February 2018 when I joined Hockley Trail Runners. I was training for the London Marathon and needed people to do my long runs with.  I just happened to bump into Mike Jordan and a group of runners from the club in Clements Hall car park one Sunday and the rest, as they say, is history!

In February this year, as part of my 'F*ck it year - running into my 60s', I signed with an online running coach to learn more about nutrition and runner specific strength training. I learned from Dan  (@dan.freshlifestylefitness) that I was under fuelling and not eating enough protein for the amount of exercise I was doing (I was in training for The Grizzly, a 20-mile, mixed terrain endurance run with 3,300' of elevation).  Two weeks after signing with Dan I ran the London Winter Run and got a new 5k PB.  During the Grizzly, in March 2025, I beat my previous PB by 1 hour, finishing in 4:15.  This was partly because my running buddies Spencer Garlick and Alan Cooke paced me for the first 10 miles, but also because my fuelling strategy was on point and I had the image in my head of me crossing the finish line with a 4 on the clock.  My top tips would be learn to fuel yourself correctly and have a positive mental attitude, visualise yourself doing what you want to do - always with a smile on your face as that helps.  I also have what I call a 'monthly maintenance massage' with Kieran Mote of The Sports Rehab Lab when I'm in training for a big race, to help keep me injury free.

This has to be my success at the ultra - I've never won anything before!

I'm lucky that I'm now retired and since I sadly lost my dad in August, my time is now my own.  My typical week looks like this:-

Monday:  Rest day, Tuesday:  Running quality session am, Strength training pm, Wednesday: lead a Club run, Thursday: Strength training, Friday: Strength training, Saturday: Rest day - volunteer at parkrun, I'm a serial volunteer as parkrun gave me a reason to get out of bed on a Saturday morning when grief reared it's ugly head again and I wasn't in a good place, Sunday:  long run.   At my age I have to respect my body and I know that means having 2 rest days per week.  My strength training is done at 30+ Health and Performance.

I don't think I have a dream race, but I do want to run more ultras, they're like a moving picnic!

I'm an Asics girl through and through.  I've tried various other brands, but Asics suits my foot shape and running style.  I run in Gel Kayano on roads and have Gel Sonoma for mid trails and a pair of Trabuco Max for gnarly trails.

My post-race ritual is an Epsom Salts bath and a roast dinner cooked by my husband, with a glass of wine.

Although there are many amazing famous runners, my running inspirations are those people who come to parkrun week after week, working away and gradually improving their time, the everyday runners who may never win anything, but run for pure enjoyment.

A runner who particularly inspires me is one of my Club mates, Neil Cornelius.  Many people will know Neil for his capacity to run and stop off at various pubs for a pint on the way, but what I find inspiring is the fact that he'll run 70 odd miles to Cambridge for a party, or he runs a 10k race in Burnham 'plus a little extra' which totalled 34.99 miles.  I don't know anyone else who takes part in a 10k race and ends up running an ultra distance!

Ohhh this is a hard one! I think it would have to be 'Stride and hide' as my first happystride purchase was a pair of classic shorts in this pattern which I still wear for cross country runs today.

This is a tough one as there are so many wonderful designs, but maybe something to reflect trail running with hills, trees, rivers etc.