No Prude When it Comes to Nudes

Sabrina Vizzari was introduced to nudism when she was 11.

MIKE DeHOOG/for Paradise Lakes

By GEOFF FOX - The Tampa Tribune

Published November 16, 2006

LAND O' LAKES - Sabrina Vizzari is about as familiar to the area's nudist community as tan lines are foreign.

She moved with her family to Lake Como Family Nudist Resort in 1989 from near Spokane, Wash. She was 16 and had been a nudist five years.

Now a roving public relations director for Paradise Lakes Resort, Vizzari is promoting the 12th annual Sneaker Streaker 5k on Saturday. The clothing-optional road race is held at the resort on Brinson Road, just west of U.S. 41.

"About 90 percent [of the runners] do take the challenge, if you will, and participate in their birthday suits," Vizzari said. "At Paradise Valley in Georgia, they have a Fig Leaf 5K they do every fall and spring. Being in the mountains of Georgia, it's hilly and brisk. … People wear their sweats, and right before the start they" remove their clothes.

Saturday's race will be on a two-loop asphalt course, Vizzari said. There will be prizes, food, beverages and "a very unique T-shirt."

"We'll have a spa service here with massage," she said. "We want our runners to be pampered."

For Vizzari, nude events are nothing new.

Since graduating from the University of South Florida with a mass communications degree, she has worked for each of the area's nudist resorts.

In 1993, she established what is believed to be Florida's first clothing-optional road race when she organized the Dare to Go Bare 5K at Lake Como.

Thanks to her outgoing personality, that event drew as many as 500 runners in the late 1990s, said Pete Williams, who broadcasts "The Fitness Buff," a weekly radio program, with Vizzari from Paradise Lakes.

"If you're looking for the personality for someone to be involved in nudist club management, you'd be hard pressed to come up with something better [than Vizzari] in a lab," Williams said. "She has the gift of gab and is able to put people at ease.

"I can't imagine anybody who's 33 and has 13 or 14 years of nudist club management experience. There are people who grow up in the nudist realm, but very few" make it a career.

Vizzari has been promoting Saturday's race for a few months.

She and her husband, Tony, often drive Paradise Lakes' large recreational vehicle - which is decorated with a large poolside panorama photo of the resort - to running events and nightclubs in the Tampa Bay area and beyond.

Tony Vizzari said people typically are respectful.

"She handles herself well and is well-spoken, so that's never been a problem," he said.

The couple recently drove the 30-foot motor home to a rib festival in St. Petersburg and a triathlon at Fort DeSoto Park. In October, they drove the vehicle to Fantasy Fest in Key West.

Vizzari said she knew little about nudism before her parents developed an interest in the lifestyle.

"My initial introduction [to nudism] was at 11," she said. "When my mother first told me about it, I had no preconceived notions. I'd never heard of such a thing. But we went to a club in Washington, and she told me I didn't have to take my clothes off. It was up to me.

"We went out there, and there were people and families and kids and a pool, and I was wearing a one-piece bathing suit. I felt odd, so I said I was ready. It was no big deal.

"It truly is one of those things that's so difficult to put into words. But [nudists are] just normal, everyday people."