“SO WHAT’S THE MOST DEPRESSING SONG you’ve ever heard?” the girl at the coffee shop asked me this morning. Actually, she was in a good mood. She explained how neat it was that listening to sad songs like the blues are actually a way to feel better when you’re down. Running works well, too, I thought.

But if you ask me, things are turning downright positive around here. After what seems like years, the Ann Arbor Ice Age is finally showing signs of ending. The temperatures are rising and the glaciers are in full retreat. Today I saw my actual deck surface for the first time in months.

And last night, despite a threat of rain, I went to the PR Fitness run at the local lululemon. To my surprise, only four of us showed up. It was warm – mid-forties – and the sidewalks were clear of ice. What’s not to like? I put on shorts and lightweight shoes and hit the road, and boy, did it feel good.

One of our group was Dan, a new guy who’s just moved to Ann Arbor from Toledo. He’s running to get in shape and to help kick his smoking habit. “In Toledo, everyone smokes,” he said. “But everyone in this town is fit.” He’d only planned to run two miles, but stuck with us a bit longer, and ended up doing close to four. He only had one beef – our route began with quite a bit of uphill rise. “Is this whole route uphill?” he wondered.

I told him this was his introduction to the Rob Morgan school of running. For those of you who don’t know him, Rob is one of the owners of PR Fitness (his wife, Coach Marie, is the other) and he has a particular knack for choosing running routes with challenging elevation changes. I’m convinced that one day he’ll discover a route that starts and ends at the same location, but will be uphill the whole way. It’s just a matter of time.

Speaking of time – in my previous post, I related that one of my little tribulations with pacing last Sunday’s ShamRock ‘n Roll was the expiration of my watch battery in the middle of the 10K. It had been on its last legs for some time, but finally gave up the ghost. So what to do?

Other people helpfully suggested a new watch, but I love my Garmin Forerunner 305. It’s an oldie but a goodie, with a nice big display and features I know how to use. But the battery is not easily switched out. It requires taking the watch apart, clipping off the old battery, and soldering in a new one.

Fortunately, I could turn to the fount of all wisdom – the World Wide Web (which is celebrating its 25th birthday this year), and found a terrific video that shows how to replace the 305 battery, step by step. I could buy a replacement 305 battery online, too, but there’s a better option – the iPod Mini battery. It’s the same size, has the same voltage, but twice the capacity. And it’s cheaper. Sold!

The toughest part turned out to be getting the watch apart, which involved about an hour of gently working the tight seam all the way around the watch face to break the adhesive. Replacing the battery was fairly easy, even with my barbaric soldering skills, and I put it back together and charged it up. So far I’ve put over four hours of use on it, with plenty of charge left.

Next up – Saturday’s No Frills All Thrills 8K trail run in Brighton. They tell me “the trail will be groomed.” I’ll settle for ice-free, which would be an improvement over last year. Hoping to defend my age group title, and earn the matching gold shoe!