Ran away with a sweetheart and used long strides! (6)
I believe the answer is:
eloped
'ran away' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'sweetheart and used long strides' is the wordplay.
'sweetheart' becomes 'e' (the heart/centre of 'sweet').
'and' says to put letters next to each other.
'used long strides' becomes 'loped' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'e'+'loped'='ELOPED'
'with a' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for eloped that I've seen before include "Ran away to marry" , "Went off" , "Ran away to get married" .)