2 weeks Ago By Ann Bailey
Six years ago on the way to a summer family vacation in Wisconsin, the runners in my family were talking about an upcoming race they planned to enter at a town near our destination, which led to reminiscing about the many 5Ks they had run throughout the years. Like the upcoming race my husband, Brian, and my daughter, Ellen, planned to run in Wisconsin, those two and Ellen’s brothers, Brendan and Thomas, had entered dozens of others over the years in towns and cities as far away from our home in northeast North Dakota as Tucson, Arizona, to as near as in our hometown of Larimore, North Dakota. ADVERTISEMENT As we recalled the races they had run and how they had brought together people to support good causes — many races raise funds for charities — we started musing about whether we could host a race that started at our farm.
We started looking at dates and realized that there wouldn’t be enough time to organize a race before the high school cross country season, so we decided our race would be after the season, on a December Saturday to celebrate the holidays. After discussing what local nonprofit we would support with the race, we decided on our local food cupboard. By the time we arrived in Wisconsin, we had the details of our inaugural race nailed down, including the name “Holiday Hustle.
” On Dec. 14, 2024, the seventh annual Holiday Hustle will be held at our farm. Over the years we’ve run the 2-mile and 4-mile races — runners and walkers choose which distance they want to go — under all kinds of weather conditions: from snow so deep that Brian had to plow a path for the runners, temperatures that dipped into double digits below zero and winds that whipped faces red and raw, to temperatures in the 30s, snow-free gravel and it so calm that not a blade of brown grass alongside the road was stirring.
No matter the weather we have a loyal group of runners and walkers who come from as far as 90 miles to take part in the Holiday Hustle. The novelty of running on gravel roads in the country in December is part of the reason for our good participation. Meanwhile, the race gives people the opportunity to donate money or food to the food cupboard — participants can also “pay” their race fees with food items.
Everyone who comes also looks forward to gathering after the race to fuel themselves with yogurt and fruit, Brian’s homemade caramel rolls, my blueberry muffins and a baked delight of Ellen’s — last year it was biscotti — and coffee and hot cider to warm them. ADVERTISEMENT Our farmhouse, beginning more than a hundred years ago when my great-grandparents built it, has been a place where family and friends gathered to enjoy one another’s company at a holiday gathering. I suspect that they or my grandparents could not have imagined that their descendants would one day host a group of men, women and children who embraced going out on a winter day and running on the gravel roads for fun.
But they would give a nod of approval to creating baked treats in their farmhouse kitchen and sharing them at the dining room table with family, neighbors and friends. It would also make them happy, I think, that other families in the community who weren’t at our table would have food on their tables via the donations to our local food pantry. The Holiday Hustle is a unique country event that reaches out beyond our home’s borders to celebrate the love and joy that are the spirit of the season.
My family is blessed to live on a multi-generational farmstead that gives us the opportunity to run with that. Ann Bailey lives on a farmstead near Larimore, North Dakota, that has been in her family since 1911. You can reach her at anntbailey58@gmail.
com..
