February 16, 2005
Decker retraces steps
TC resident qualifies for national snowshoe race for second year
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
Only his fourth time ever wearing snowshoes, Mike Decker qualified for a national snowshoe race.
Last January, the 1995 Traverse Senior High graduate won the Bigfoot Snowshoe Race in Traverse City and gained automatic entry into 2004 Nike ACG U.S. National Snowshoe Championships. He traveled to Lake Tahoe, Calif., as the only competitor from Michigan and finished 18th overall.
This year, the avid runner and year-round biker did it again: nailed first place in the Bigfoot Snowshoe Race 10K, held January 29 at Timber Ridge. In early March, he will compete in the 2005 Nike ACG U.S. National Snowshoe Championships in Anchorage, Alaska.
"It is a low-key event and I liked that," he said of last year's championships, whose 100 racers hailed mostly from the West. "You have guys running in it who are 55 years old and a lot of the guys know each other. They've got the maturity thing, a core base and core strength that you develop over the years."
Last March, Decker skipped acclimating to the high altitude and arrived in Lake Tahoe the day before the race. He also faced the challenges of a mountainous course and, after the race, getting used to the idea of finishing six minutes behind the first place winner.
"The first half mile was straight up, that was an eye-opening experience," said Decker of the 10K event.
Even without vertical inclines, Decker said snowshoeing is harder than running in terms of strength, endurance and aerobic demand.
"It's more intense and 45 minutes running is like 30 minutes snowshoeing," he said. "You use your quads more and pull up on your snowshoe and when there's heavy snow it gets real heavy."
"Running on snowshoes is not like tromping through the woods, you have a different plant and it develops different muscles," added Decker, a former track and cross country standout for the Trojans.
A full-time employee of Running Fit, Decker has the classic runner's physique and kept up his training into adulthood. By not owning a car, training is part of his daily routine as he bikes everywhere. Last week he put more than 75 miles on his bike's odometer.
"It's like I'm always in constant calorie burn," said Decker, who has a Bachelor's degree in creative writing from Sienna Heights University in Adrian, Mich., and is editor and writer with the alternative local zine Kerplunk.
"I think it's just a little bit of added strength that can give you an edge," he added of the biking.
Randy Step, a partner in Running Fit, which is based in Ann Arbor, is squarely behind Decker's snowshoe racing career. He is financing his trip to Anchorage this year and helped with it last year. Step founded the Bigfoot race five year ago and it has always been a regional qualifier for the national race.
The top racers in the championships become the United States team and compete in the world championship; last year this event was held in Italy.
"So Mike could get picked for the national team," Step said.
Snowshoeing is booming, relatively speaking, but as a weather-dependent sport the numbers have a long way to go. Step added that even in Traverse City, a haven for outdoor winter sports enthusiasts, snowshoeing has a minimal following.
"Even though it is a fast-growing sport, it is still very small," said Step, a veteran runner who winter trains on snowshoes. "When we have 220 competitors in a race, that is a huge event as opposed to the thousands in a running race."
"It's a fun sport, because you can go running everywhere in the winter, I even go running in swamps," he added.
Decker agrees that snowshoeing is more accessible than skiing - just snap on the shoes and head out. He usually trains by running on the Grand Traverse Commons grounds.
"Skiing is so much more complicated, you have the waxing and the different conditions," he said.