Kaiser, Sharron get first victories in Turkey Trot

A field of about 6,000 runners and walkers participated in this year’s
Turkey Trot race. Participants competed in three main divisions, in addition to a 1-mile walk.
Photo by St. Clair Murraine

By St. Clair Murraine
Outlook staff writer

Nate Kaiser and Katie Sharron started the Turkey Trot 15K race with one thing in common. Neither of them had to face the defending champion in the Thanksgiving morning race.
They ended up winning the men’s and women’s titles, respectively on a slightly hilly course in Southwood. It was the first time either of them won the event, which has been dominated lately by Chris Lake in the men’s division and Cheryl Rosen on the women’s side.
Kaiser might have been hard pressed had Lake entered the race, but med school obligations prevented the former college distance runner from showing up.
But Kaiser still wasn’t too sure he’d emerge with his first Turkey Trot victory after four previous tries.
“You never know who is going to show up,” Kaiser said. “I just run hard and let the cards fall where they may.”
Everything was favorable for the 36-year-old science researcher who works at the FSU mag lab. He finished in a time of 52:40, ahead of Jose Diaz (54:40) and Kevin Chin Shue (56:06).
Kaiser said his strategy was simply to run a cautious race.

“I tried to run as evenly as possible,” he said. “Not go out too hard.”
He ran along most of the way and apart from that running uphill was the hardest part of the race, Kaiser said.
“Everyone was running hard,” he said. “I turned around and didn’t see anyone.”
The race, which attracted a field of nearly 6,000, also featured a 10K and a 5K for men and women.
Daniel Hamilton pretty much had his way in winning the 10K in a time of 35 minutes flat, finishing ahead of Daniel Baur whose time was 35:23. He was 16 seconds faster than Gary Droze (35:39) who took third place.
In the men’s 5K, Ricardo Estremera got the victory in a time of 14:53. He was followed by Jake Littlehales (15:41) and Trevor Touchton (15:45).
Sharron’s time of 57:40 was the most recent of several personal best times she has been setting in regional races. Brittany Barnes took more than an hour to finish the 15K but her time of 1:04.35 was still good enough for second place, placing ahead of Jillian Heddaeus (1:06.49).
The best time in the women’s 10K was run by Katie Gorman at 38:38, followed by Kelly Bahn (40:06) and Adriana Piekarewicz (40:43).
Emma Reed was the fastest in the women’s 5K division with a time of 18:38. She finished ahead of second-place finisher Lydia Lee’s 19:15, while Caroline Willis’ time of 19:20 was good for third.

Sharron’s win came on her first start in the Turkey Trot’s 15K division.
“It feel really good,” she said. “It feels great to be out here with my family. It’s nice to be a part of an awesome community, too.”
Like Kaiser, Sharron ran without much challenge. While approaching the final stretch, she found her biggest challenge to be the humidity.
“I was pretty worn out,” she said. “The sun was beginning to get to me. I could see a couple of the men in front of me and I tried to take off, but I couldn’t end up passing them.”