Rob Mason, longtime Ledger running columnist and founder of several local races dies at 77

LAKELAND – One day in November 1977, Rob Mason went for a slow jog around Lakeland's Lake Morton to lose some weight and start a healthier lifestyle.

After about 400 feet, he had to lie down.

But through the past 45 years, Mason’s love for running and passion for getting others to get off their feet for fun and fitness led him to races across the United States and in Paris, Norway, Canada, Portugal, Spain, England and other countries, where he often traveled to races backpacking.

From 1977 to 2023, Mason meticulously kept a running log of his miles, his last entry made that total 79,679 miles.

On Thursday, Mason died of pancreatic cancer at 77. He was diagnosed and admitted into Lakeland Regional Health Medical Center on May 7. He died at Good Shepherd Hospice House in Lakeland.

In Mason’s Duncan Avenue home, where he lived with his partner and best friend, Linda Walther Snavely, since 2005, the walls are lined with photos, plaques and certificates that offer a nostalgic panorama of his love for running and sharing that love with others.

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That passion resulted in him having a founding role in some of the area’s best-known road races as part of The Lakeland Runners’ Club, races such as the MidFlorida Mayfaire 5K; the Summer Sunrise Watermelon Series, a series of three races over the summer; and the Aching Quad Challenge, consisting of four races in 24 hours.

Nationally and internationally, Mason ran in the New York City Marathon, the Walt Disney World Marathon, the Paris Marathon (1992, 2014), the 10K Paris, the Oslo Marathon 20K, the Sherbrooke (Canada) half-triathlons, the Brussels (Belgium) 20K, the Barcelona (Spain) Half-Marathon, the Lisbon (Portugal) Marathon and the Turin (Italy) Marathon, among others. He would also run a 5K in whatever city he was visiting.

He’s only one of five people to have run in every Gasparilla Distance Classic in Tampa since its founding in 1978, his last one run this year. Locally, he’s the only person to have run all of Lakeland’s Lake to Lake 10K races, beginning in the 1970s.

In addition, Mason wrote running columns as a correspondent for The Ledger for some four decades.

Snavely, who met Mason 15 years ago at a Lakeland Watermelon Run, said he ran his last 5K, the Judd Jog in Winter Haven, on April 29. She said Mason “is ending his roughest run” as the pancreatic cancer took its toll.

Snavely said not long after the Judd Jog, Mason complained about an upset stomach and fatigue, went to Lakeland Regional for tests and a cancerous mass was found on his pancreas and lymph nodes. He was hospitalized for two and a half weeks before hospice was called, he went home, and his condition worsened. After three nights, he was in hospice for the final time.

“He always said, ‘quality of quantity’ and he lived that,” said Snavely, who has accompanied Mason on many of his runs. “I think what he did was very brave. It has not been easy-going, but the alternative would’ve been unthinkable. I just hope he’s remembered for making a difference. He could be a pain in the ass, but you always knew were you stood with him; he was a straight-up guy.”

Those sentiments about Mason’s accomplishments and personality were shared by those who knew him well.

Mark Codd, 63, of Lakeland has known Mason for 25 years, becoming good friends through races and runs, and they’ve run at least 200 road races and marathons together, such as six or seven Walt Disney World Marathons, The Turkey Trot in Clearwater, The Aching Quad and most recently, the Judd Jog, the last time Codd saw his running pal in person.

Codd said he met Mason through running and has known him to be focused as a runner and dependable as a friend. He said Mason had a tradition of lying down on the ground immediately after every race.

“I stood next to him, and you just knew not to approach him or to get in his face at that time because Rob, he needed to rest – he gave everything in every race that he ever ran,” said Codd, a retired human resources director for Publix. “His crossing the finish line and laying down, it’s just what Rob does."

Another longtime friend and race partner, Barb Cahalan, a resident of Big Sky, Montana, and seasonal resident of Lakeland, said she flew to Lakeland about three weeks ago, saw Mason, spoke with him and “shared memories.” She said Mason began encouraging her to run in the mid-1980s, became a mentor and eventually a training partner. She said he ran with her every Sunday morning as she prepared for her first marathon in 1987 in Brandon and was surprised to find out he died.

“I knew it was going to happen, but I was surprised at how quickly it progressed, especially with him being so healthy,” she said. “But Rob changed my life. I didn’t know I could run, and he helped me learn to run, race and be part of the running community. And that community was very important to Rob.”

Mason was born in Rochester, New York, to Hoyt and Nancy Mason, his father a bank president and his mother a homemaker. He grew up in Avon, New York, where he went to high school and later attended SUNY Geneseo College, Geneseo, New York, as an art major.

He served in the U.S. Navy from 1968 to 1972 and moved to Lakeland in 1973 after his parents moved there. He has three siblings, Linda Lindstrom, deceased, and Carol Kahlenberg and Paul Mason, both of Lakeland. He has two daughters, Jenny Burleson and Katie Morales, both of Marietta, Georgia, and two grandchildren, Whitt Burleson and Addy Morales.

Mason worked 21 years as a central shops manager for Walt Disney World, where he helped build Disneyland Paris and oversaw the completion of the Disney Wonder cruise ship in Venice, Italy, launched in 1998. It was in Paris that he ran his first marathon, which led to running in marathons across Europe.

Besides running, Mason had a bird photography business called Wingnut for about 10 years.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Rob Mason, longtime passionate advocate of running, dies at 77