JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Running the Gate River Run has become more than a race for Casey Sparks. <\/p>\n
The guy has literally done more races than he can count.<\/p>\n
\u201cExcessive amounts like I don\u2019t know even know how many marathons,\u201d Sparks said. <\/p>\n
Sparks laughed when asked about his finish line hardware, but then shifted the conversation to what he has learned and how he tries to help others. <\/p>\n
\u201cEvery distance, there\u2019s something that you can learn from. I mean, put it this way, right? Like I\u2019ve done 100 mile races and I\u2019ve gone to the well countless times in races, but I just did the shark bite half marathon here locally in New Smyrna Beach,\u201d Sparks said. \u201cI put on clinics every Saturday for 13 weeks before the race. <\/p>\n
Sparks himself finished the Leadville Ultramarathon \u2014 a 100-mile ultra that draws elite competitors. He has learned a lot about himself in those races.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was telling my athletes this weekend, you know, it\u2019s like, you\u2019re here. You\u2019ve got 12 people that showed up from different states that are here to pace you. Like, what are you gonna do? Are you gonna quit? Like, that doesn\u2019t make sense,\u201d Sparks said. \u201cThere\u2019s like the physical, your muscles. There\u2019s the mental your brain that\u2019s telling you, you know what to do. Then there\u2019s, call it you or your soul or whatever it is you want to call it, but it\u2019s you. That\u2019s why I tell a lot of people when they\u2019re in that it\u2019s like, who, who do you want to be in charge right now?\u201d<\/p>\n
Sparks is a well-accomplished runner and coach but his sobriety is one of the things he is most proud of. He got sober three years and three months ago. He says in his 20\u2019s he was still dealing with the painful loss of his father. <\/p>\n
\u201cMy father passed away when I was 19 in a four-wheeler accident. And I think that\u2019s where it kind of all started from,\u201d Sparks said. <\/p>\n
We reached out to Sparks after he sent this excerpt to the Gate River Run about why this race is so important to him. <\/p>\n
It reads:<\/p>\n
Gate River Run isn\u2019t just a race for me\u2014it\u2019s the start of everything.<\/p>\n
I lined up at Gate River Run for the first time in 2019 for what I thought was just \u201ca real race.\u201d I had no idea it would become an annual checkpoint for my life. Since that first year, I\u2019ve returned every year chasing progress, consistency, and that Top 10% hat\u2014earning it five years in a row and lining up this year hungry for number six.<\/p>\n
Since that first Gate River Run, everything has changed. I got sober. I learned discipline. I showed up when motivation was gone. That commitment carried me far beyond 15K\u2014through countless marathons, every distance in between, and ultimately to the finish line of the Leadville 100.<\/p>\n
Today, I\u2019m a USATF-certified coach, helping others navigate the same slippery slope I once stood on\u2014using running as a tool for structure, accountability, and belief. Every year I toe the line at Gate River Run, it reminds me where this journey started and why I keep coming back.<\/p>\n
Not only does he compete at a high level at the race, but now performs at an even higher level at home. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt kind of really helped everything that I was trying to do, you know, like be a good dad, be a husband, be good father or friend, a good business owner or coach,\u201d he said. \u201cI feel, like Gate River Run, like how I wrote that expert with Gate River Run is my annual checkup to see where I\u2019m at and every year I try to PR every year. I\u2019m getting a hat.\u201d<\/p>\n
So what is the goal this year?<\/p>\n
\u201cThis year, I\u2019m looking to go sub one hour, which is fast.\u201d<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Running the Gate River Run has become more than a race for Casey Sparks. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":182063,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[82384,116,118,117],"class_list":["post-182062","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-gate-river-run","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=182062"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182062\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/182063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=182062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=182062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=182062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}