An open letter from the Race Director
TL;DR - It’s been a long couple of years, and though I am extremely proud of what Second Capital Running has accomplished, there’s a lot of refining that needs to happen to prepare for the next phase of The Movement. SCR is getting back to its roots in 2023. If you want to know what that means exactly, you’ll have to keep reading.
It’s been a while since I’ve put a statement out like this. Two years to be exact. The easy explanation for why is that I’ve been really busy - the honest answer is that I didn’t have the energy to put thoughts down like this on a regular basis. From the start of 2021 to the close of 2022, Second Capital Running produced 61 different races, most of them developed from the ground up by the company. Things seemed to be happening quickly and constantly, and although the running industry hadn’t come close to fully recovering from the pandemic (and still hasn’t), we were getting lots of calls and emails from people that wanted to put on races.
If you didn’t already know, there is a lot of work that goes into making a race happen. As much as I wish running this company was my full-time job, it’s nowhere near the revenue producer it needs to be to justify that kind of move, so I’ve had to learn to balance a day job (that I also love) along with the growing demand of producing nearly 30 races a year. I had to put my head down and dial in on making each race the best event I could put out. I am lucky enough to have a small but mighty race day team helping make this happen; but nonetheless, the behind the scenes work that is put in leading up to race day is daunting and getting through the last two years required a lot of sacrifices. In retrospect I see that some of those sacrifices weren’t entirely necessary and, as they say, “the juice was not worth the squeeze,” but I have learned so much over those years that I believe SCR is poised to make some tremendous strides in our 5th official season.
Like most people at the start of a new year, I’ve reflected a lot on what I’ve done with the previous year and what I hope to see Second Capital Running accomplish in the next 365 days. The original vision of SCR was of a transformed community through the sport, and that led to the mission of creating great races and events that brought people together in the name of empowerment and connection. These aren’t just hot button words for me - they are genuine ideas that I not only believe in, but have witnessed come to fruition time and time again at our races. Because of this, the purpose of this company has evolved into a very simple one: serve our running community by bringing iconic and impactful events to the masses.
This vision, mission, and purpose has landed SCR in some great places, and I’ve been very lucky to be handed some phenomenal opportunities. I mean, how did I get to be the guy that put on the first race through the Cape May Zoo?? A place I, and so many others, have cherished since childhood. But on the flipside of things, the sacrifices I mentioned before to keep the business end of things rolling have caused me to put aside some equally important parts of the vision, mission, and purpose. Personally, I spent a great deal of the last two years not running. Spending many weekends either working on my own races or assisting in many other well-known races in the area created a rift in my own relationship with the sport, and I just kind of lost the love. Luckily, we’re working on the relationship again and it looks promising.
There’s something about being a race director that isn’t in touch with the race day experience that feels very fraudulent to me, and that sense of impostor syndrome weighed heavy on me. In the early days, before SCR was producing races every other weekend, I was a part of regular group runs and traveled with friends to run in other beloved local races, and that was such a unique way of connecting with people that I can’t get out of race day when I’m busy making sure every one else is getting their monies worth. Hyper-focusing on keeping the wheels on the bus caused me to lose sight of the real truth of the vision: you don’t need a signup fee, bib, and inflatable finish arch to connect with runners. Allowing myself to enjoy the sport alongside my community and engage beyond the buyer-seller relationship is equally important, if not greater, to making deep connections. There’s a common phrase that I’m sure a lot of runners know:
If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together.
In some ways, things for me have been very fast and loose in the way I handled the mission of Second Capital Running, but my resolution for the 2023 season is to utilize this growing community to go further together. If you’ve made it this far into this post, then you’re exactly the kind of person I want to do this with.
Three simple goals: Run more, connect deeper, and go further together. How do I hope to do this? Well, that’s the easy part. Runners can expect the return of a lot of the grassroots actions that were initiated early on in this movement. Group runs and community events that won’t cost you a dime, campaigns that celebrate and commemorate the work that’s been done, and community projects driven by rich collaboration that I hope will last far beyond the legacy of Second Capital Running.
It’s my goal to release a monthly statement on the status of all things SCR, so check back in soon and expect to hear a lot more on what’s in the works for our running community. In the meantime, check out our newest project: The Parvin Trail Blazers Winter Challenge - a hybrid series centered around 6 group runs that will educate curious runners on the vast network of trails at our favorite park!
Get with it or get left in the dust.
- Andre “Andy” Rivera
Founder & Race Director, Second Capital Running