END OF AN ERA

Second Capital Running has been involved with the Parvin Turkey Trot since it’s first year in 2018, first as community to support the event and bring in more runners, and then in 2020 we took over as the management and operations force behind the event. For the following 3 years we worked alongside the Parvin Appreciation Committee to make this event happen, but with each year the workload scale tipped more and more on our side and less and less on the committee. This was evident in the 2022 race when not a single member of the committee board was present at the race. We produced 2 successful races for the committee in 2022, charging less that half of our usual services fees as well as covering some of the hard costs ourselves, and we were not compensated for them until July of this year.

Needless to say, the nature of the relationship became unfavorable, and in September of this year I decided it was time to end the relationship. For many reasons, the most important being not wanting to lose the tradition for our runners, I wanted to press on and attempt to put on our own Thanksgiving race. I went through the proper channels and filed my permit through the state parks service, who couldn’t grant us Thanksgiving morning for our race, but were prepared to grant us the following day. Thanksgiving Day was being held in case the committee opted to host their own Turkey Trot. This was a concession I willingly accepted so that we could move forward. Unfortunately the president of the committee, Robert Zuest was hellbent on sabotaging our efforts.

On Monday October 30, two weeks after first hearing that we would be granted the permit for 11/24, the park office informed me that they had to revoke our permit. I was told that Robert Zuest argued that allowing us to host this event interfered with his ability to host his own Turkey Trot, despite the fact that they did not, and still do not at this time, have a Turkey Trot on their schedule of events. This decision came from the superintendent of the southern region of NJ state parks, who explained to me that they would not accommodate both events if the committee were in fact hosting theirs.

It did not matter that our company had moved forward with planning the race after getting word from the park office 2 weeks ago, nor that we already had 50+ runners registered and paid for, nor that it would cost us over $3,000 in refunds and materials. It especially did not matter that with 25 days to go, Robert Zuest and his committee had no evident plans to host a race, nor the means or manpower to produce it. I was told that the state “hopes for the best for [the committee] to be able to host their events, but understand that they may not always be able to follow through on their plans.”

I played by the rules. I fought in the right and respectable ways to make this race happen and to keep a tradition alive for our runners. Today I accepted that it was beyond my control and I had lost my fight. Perhaps by no coincidence at all, the passage below came to me as I was reading this morning:

“I don’t agree with those who plunge headlong into the middle of the flood and who, accepting a turbulent life, struggle daily in great spirit with difficult circumstances. The wise person will endure that, but won’t choose it–choosing to be at peace, rather than at war.”  - Seneca

I knew that there would be strife ahead when I decided to part ways with the committee, but I also knew it would be worth it for my community. I could keep fighting, I could press the state, but they’ve also made it clear that they will be making it more difficult for these types of events to happen at state parks in the future, so today I choose peace. This likely means the end of our time at Parvin, our favorite park, and I’m sorry for that. The last race of the year for Second Capital Running will be the Jolly Holly Run in Millville, a really great race and great way to end our season. Personally, I will be running the Williamstown Badgers Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving this year and hope to see some of you there.

Further Together.

-Andre “Andy” Rivera

Founder, Owner

Complaints and concerns can be voiced to the Parvin State Park Office: 856-358-8616 or the Office of the Superintendent of the Southern Region: 609-704-1964

Season of Gratitude

Back in April I wrote that Second Capital Running was “ankle deep” in the 2023 season. It’s now mid-july and the water is well past the knee with 10 races down and another 6 to go before we even reach summer's end. Summer is always an important time of year for me, mainly because our schedule is very focused around Vineland for most of it, but summer 2023 in particular holds a lot of weight for a number of reasons. 

Just over two weeks ago we hosted the 5th annual Running The Ave 5K in Downtown Vineland and it was another successful year of the race. I went into this year planning to dispatch any concerns of how many people will be there on race day and focus only on delivering another quality race, and that’s exactly what myself and my team did. I believe that equally important as the growth of an event is the development of the culture that surrounds it; what people love about and what it is that keeps them coming back. RTA5K has developed a strong culture around it over the last 5 years that people from Vineland and surrounding areas identify with. It’s more than just a race, it’s a yearly tradition in the city that brings our community together to celebrate the sport we love and the city we call home. That energy was so strong on race day that you couldn’t convince me there were any less than 500 people lining up on Landis Avenue 2 weeks ago. 

For this I am grateful.

This past Saturday was the third annual Hot Mess Trail Races, but in reality, it was the first year of a new version of the races. Hot Mess was an attempt at delivering a long distance trail race (something very much out of our wheelhouse) for South Jersey, and the first two years of this event certainly lived up to its name, with an emphasis on mess. I have no issue with admitting that I was out of my comfort zone and delivering a sub-par product. The event either needed to be squashed or totally reinvented. I opted for the latter and did it with the help of Pete & Jen from Endless Endurance. Thus it became the Hot Mess Half Marathon & Hour Trail Races, now being hosted at Parvin State Park. The new and improved races were well received and quite possibly my favorite production of 2023. 

For this I am grateful.

At the time of writing this, we are two weeks into the Vineland Grand Prix - the best damn thing about Summer. If you’ve never experienced the Grand Prix, you need to ASAP (only 3 more races left if you’re reading this before July 19). This series continues to grow every year and we had a record turnout at opening night with 162 runners taking on the infamous course in South Vineland. The biggest thing that stands out about these races is the massive turnout of families and young runners each week. Over 35% of participants in the Grand Prix are under the age of 18.

For this I am grateful.

To lead, you must be willing to serve. To become wise, you must be willing to learn. To find success, you must be willing to fail. These three statements explain what Second Capital Running is doing and where it’s going. This community keeps us empowered. Gratitude keeps us grounded.

Andre “Andy” Rivera

Founder, Race Director

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Running Down A Dream

On the eve of the most important race weekend of the year, I am thinking about how lucky I am to be a dreamer; and furthermore, how lucky I am to be someone that’s gotten the chance to make dreams become reality. 

This Sunday is the 5th annual Running The Ave 5K, which, if you don’t already know, is the impetus for Second Capital Running.  Everything started with the vision for this one race, and it’s brought us to unimaginable places and created a community that this company would be nothing without. RTA5K is my true north as a race director. My entire year revolves around the chance to bring another iteration of it to my hometown and the people that love it.

At 5 years, the average human has begun to get a grip on things like numbers, letters, words, social relationships, and more. It’s an exciting phase of life because a 5 year old has come so far from what they could and [mostly] couldn’t do at age 1, but also still has so many years left to live and learn. At year 5 of RTA5K, I think there are some similarities in the way the race has grown as compared to the growth of a 5 year old child. Year 1 was all about coming into the world and breathing life into the vision. At that time, I thought that was the dream - just to make it finally exist after a months long gestational process - and it was. After a few years of learning and experimenting, and most importantly, discovering what it was that made the race special to the runners that keep coming back each year, I think I see the dream differently: the dream is witnessing the life of the vision unfold, not its arrival.

To explain what I mean, I want to go back to the example of a child. When you’re expecting the baby, the dream is it being born and the moment you finally meet. The baby is born and the dream comes true. But that’s just the beginning. The baby becomes a toddler and the dream becomes seeing them go to their first day of school, making friends, and morphing into a little individual. It only continues to evolve from there. They’re a teenager, and then a graduate, and then they’re an adult doing their part in the world. Maybe even one day the dream is them becoming parents and creating dreams of their own.

In the beginning you thought your dream came true when this person - your vision, if you may, entered your world, but really the dream is seeing their entire life unfold before you . Every year your dream is rediscovered through their own evolution, and you don’t stop running down that dream until your last breath.

I’ve been running down my own dream for the last 5 years, and this year I have a clearer picture than last year of just how far I have to go, and just how much this race will evolve right before my eyes. It’s an exciting phase, and I’m lucky to share that excitement with people that feel equally as invested in the life of this race; the runners that have been here every year since it’s start and the city stakeholders that help make it happen. They say it takes a village to raise a child. The same goes for turning a race into a local icon.

This Sunday kicks off seven straight weeks of races in Vineland, with the Vineland Grand Prix Series starting the following week on July 5, and then our newest addition, the North VIneland Road Race closes out the Summer circuit on August 6.

- Andre “Andy” Rivera

Founder & Race Director