2020 was full of sadness and grief, but it also brought the joy of reconnecting in a meaningful way with my old friend Greg Bigler. Here I use “old” both in terms of the time we’ve known each other and the fact that he’s sort of an elder now, at least in the Indian law community.

Since August, I’ve had the pleasure of serving as one of the district court judges for the Muscogee (Creek) Nation where Greg is the administrative judge. At Muscogee (Creek) Nation, that means he’s the chief judge that handles all the personnel and business affairs of the trial court. He primarily hears the criminal docket and after McGirt v. Oklahoma, that’s a tall order. A 30-fold increase in his docket and I’ve never heard him utter a negative word about it. Duty calls.

He’s a deep thinker, judge, lawyer and he supports and encourages many law students and young lawyers. He’s highly credentialed: Harvard J.D. + Wisconsin LL.M. He has significant national service under his belt. But above all that? He’s a runner’s runner.

Greg doesn’t play. I’ve been through several fit and starts in my “running career” in the last 20 years, but Greg is tried and true. He’s one of the most disciplined athletes I’ve ever known. In most years, he runs 2000 miles a year and with minuscule exceptions on a hotel treadmill, it’s always outside. He’s beast-mode. #Boss. Euchee strong.

Weather-wise, this morning cries out for all the Okie metaphors about how slick and cold it is outside. Colder than a well digger’s butt. Slicker than greased owl excrement, etc. So many.

Could there be a more perfect day to share one of Judge Bigler’s running hacks? He’s not going to let some namby-pamby ice storm or freezing rain keep him from getting his run in. Nope. He’s got a hack for that.

Here’s some next level advice from the Runnin’ Judge of the Mvskoke Rez:

“For obsessed runners (is that a redundancy?) who truly want to avoid the dreadmill, if you just “have to” run outside in icy conditions “Screw Shoes” are your best bet. Use 3/8” hex head sheet metal screws in an old pair of running shoes. The wear pattern on an old pair gives a good idea of where to place the screws – those are the places your foot impacts and pushes off, so that is where you want traction.

You don’t need them in the middle of the shoe, mainly along the outer portion. I use about 12 screws per shoe. Personally, I find they work better than Yak Traks for spotty ice conditions on paved / blacktop. With the thick soles of running shoes the 3/8’s screw won’t go through to inside. I have run on icy conditions on Tulsa River Parks Trails (paved running trail) over the last 6-7 years in ice and never had a problem, though on bridges with glaze ice I still walked across, usually.

The first time you try them, it takes a few minutes or a mile to trust how well they work. I made the woman in this picture their shoes in 15 minutes before this run. After a little nervousness the first mile by the end of 8 miles they were running at sub 9mpm pace and not thinking about foot placement.

For conditions where you might otherwise be concerned about icy patches, it lets you get that run done. And it is so much more fun to be running outside in the cold, wintery conditions when everyone else is staying inside and wondering how crazy are you?? If you use a hex nut driver on a cordless screwdriver it will take about 5 minutes for both shoes. We did 8+ miles this day on a rolling paved patchy iced trail with no slippage at all.“