Heart & Sole - Haraka Run Walk

When Haraka Run and Walk threw open its doors for its official grand opening celebration on February 21, the energy inside 5501 Baltimore Avenue told a story that numbers alone cannot fully capture. More than 200 people — dignitaries, distance runners, neighborhood families, walkers and first-time joggers — gathered to mark a milestone that Prince George’s County has long deserved: a world-class running specialty store rooted in the community it serves.

The grand opening drew an impressive roster of civic and industry leaders, including the Mayor of Hyattsville, the newly installed President of the Prince George’s County Economic Development Council, the Executive Director and Board Chair of the Running Industry Diversity Coalition (RIDC), and elected officials and community champions from across the state and region. Then came the moment that stopped the room. 

Store co-owners Jesse Holland and Carol Holland — a decorated journalist and educator and a Navy veteran, licensed professional engineer, and former Naval Academy All-American track athlete, respectively — were presented with an official commendation from the Maryland State Legislature, recognizing Haraka Run and Walk’s historic significance as Prince George’s County’s first running specialty store. It was the kind of recognition neither of them saw coming, and both of them will carry with them for a long time.

“Running is for everyone,” said Carol Holland, who has been the operational backbone of Haraka since its earliest days. “And Prince George’s County deserves every resource, every experience, and every brand that runners anywhere else in the country take for granted.”

The celebration extended well beyond the walls of the store. Haraka’s inaugural Run Fair and Fun Run drew hundreds of participants to the Rhode Island Avenue Trolley Trail, where community members chose between a 2-mile walk and a 3-mile run. The turnout underscored what Jesse and Carol have insisted from the beginning: Haraka was never just going to be a retail destination. It was always going to be a movement — one that meets people exactly where they are, whether they are elite competitors or first-time fitness walkers. 

That movement has roots that run deeper than the grand opening. Haraka launched its Wednesday Weekly Walk in July 2025, months before its Christmas Eve soft opening, as a deliberate act of community investment — a signal to the neighborhood that this store was showing up before it ever asked the neighborhood to show up for it. Now organized under the banner of the newly formed Haraka Run Club, the weekly Wednesday evening gatherings invite community members to walk three miles together along the Trolley Trail, building friendships and fitness in equal measure. After pausing for a winter hiatus at Thanksgiving, the walk resumed in the first week of March and has been going strong ever since.

 A welcome new addition to the Wednesday experience is the Haraka Happy Hour — a post-walk social gathering at the iconic Busboys and Poets restaurant, located directly across the street from the store. Runners, joggers, and walkers wind down the evening with conversation, community, and the kind of easy camaraderie that turns a fitness routine into a lifestyle. It is exactly the kind of programming Jesse and Carol envisioned when they first talked about what Haraka could become. 

Perhaps the most electrifying chapter in Haraka’s young story came when Olympic gold medalist and Prince George’s County native Quincy Wilson chose the store as the site for his New Balance shoe collection celebration. Wilson, who will carry his extraordinary track career to the nearby University of Maryland, brought approximately 60 friends and family members to Haraka for an evening that blended athletic achievement with genuine community spirit. He spoke openly about his collaboration with New Balance, the design philosophy behind his signature spikes, and his ambitions heading toward the next Olympic cycle. Then, in a gesture that captured everything Haraka stands for, Wilson — alongside New Balance and the store — donated 18 pairs of his signature spikes to area youth groups, signed autographs, and celebrated with his community deep into the night.

It was the kind of night that Jesse Holland, a former White House correspondent who has witnessed history up close, did not expect to find in a running store in Hyattsville. But that, it turns out, is exactly the point.

Haraka Run and Walk is backed by the RIDC’s prestigious RUN THE BLOCK grant and built on the conviction that access to quality running resources is a matter of equity, not luxury. With spring approaching and a growing community at its back, the store is just getting started.

The trail ahead looks very promising indeed.

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