Bargains, Burritos and More

Thursday

Because I ran on Wednesday that meant that I had a bike to do on Thursday. Originally I was hoping to ride into work but when I woke up and looked out the window I knew that wasn't going to happen. The clouds were nasty and there were possibilities of thunderstorms. I figured that if I got home and the weather was okay I would do the ride outside. Nope, the weather was still crappy, so it would have to be on the trainer. As it turned out I got sucked into watching the Canucks game and the ride just never happened...

Friday

My friend DGB had mentioned a new restaurant in town that opened up that I was keen to try - Mucho Burrito. It is pretty similar to Chipotle (which I love...), but they don't have up here. I decided to make a deal with myself - get on the bike then Mucho Burrito would be the reward. The ride was pretty easy - a 45 minute high cadence spin. I threw season one of Red Dwarf on and spun away. (If you are into British comedies and haven't seen Red Dwarf...I love it! Awesome show from the late 80s and 90s.) Truthfully my stomach was rumbling after 30 minutes so it was off to Mucho Burrito. It was so yummy....and even though I knew I may regret it I went for some hot salsa on top...which was most definitely hot! So good though..!!

Saturday

I had a big round of workouts on the schedule - a 2300m swim followed by a 15K run. I figured my best bet was to swim at the Eau Claire Y early in the morning, then hit the pathways around the river for my run. I threw all the gear I would need into my gym back and took off to try to be at the pool early. I hopped in a lane with two other guys and got to work. The water felt really good and I found my rhythm. The main set called for a 1000m continuous swim, a 1:00 rest, then another 500m continuous swim. Since I was feeling so good I opted to swim the entire 1500m together (in part so I could see where my time would shake out for the distance), then I'd follow it up with a 1:00 rest, another 250m swim, then cool down for a total of 2500m. The swim was awesome!!

I hopped out of the pool, had a quick shower to get the chlorine out of the hair, and put the running gear on. I also downed a gel. I thought I would try a new one - Key Lime Accel Gel. I wanted to try this one out since it has protein in it. I know as my workouts get longer for half Iron training that I'll need to incorporate protein in my fueling so I wanted to see how this stuff tasted and worked.

Taste? It was fantastic. It really tasted just like key lime pie filling. How it worked? Oh well...we'll see...

Mile 1 - 10:25 - I was a bit slow to warm up.
Mile 2 - 10:04 - Getting faster...
Mile 3 - 9:58 - And a bit faster...
Mile 4 - 9:50 - Hitting my stride.
Mile 5 - 9:47 - Faster...but all of a sudden my stomach starts rebelling. Was it the hot sauce? The gel? The pool water I probably ingested earlier in the morning? A combination of all three?
Mile 6 - 9:48 - Holding on...heading back to the Y.
Mile 7 - 9:48 - Still hanging in there
Mile 8 - 9:34 - So close...I just want to be done!
Mile 9 - 10:01 - Total rebellion...
Mile 0.18 - 9:41 - Done, thankfully!

So...was it the gel? Maybe... I still have a couple of packs to try, so we'll see if it happens again. I won't be pairing it with Mucho Burrito again though (I'll save that for before a rest day). My legs felt great on the run, it was just a shame about the ol' digestive system not feeling quite up to par.

Hope everyone has a great Sunday! Happy Mother's Day to all moms out there, but most especially to my mom!!!!

General Randomness

Holy smokes...it was crazy in the city this morning! The majority of the snow last night was melting when it hit the roads. The temperatures dropped overnight though, and it turned the road and sidewalks into skating rinks. Scary drive into work this morning, and I was just thankful that I was driving in before 6 am and the roads weren't that busy. The City of Calgary really dropped the ball by not salting the roads. I nearly wiped out a couple times on the walk into the office too. Given that I bailed on my 30 minute run with strides over lunch. I wasn't sure what the pathways would be like and I didn't want to run the risk of wiping out. I debated doing the run on the treadmill after work, but ultimately I decided to do a little research for an experiment that I have planned for this weekend.

In other general news:

• Still no formal race plan for Sunday... I've got my pace goals down but that is about it. Oh, and I plan to take a gel every 45 minutes - chocolate mint Gu. I have no idea what I'm going to wear since the weather doesn't look too fabulous. I've also been afraid to write down my motivational phrases. I'm not sure what Angie would think when she read that I plan to say "suck it up sissy pants" to myself when the going gets tough.
• I picked up my bib for the race today. Definitely one of my favourite race shirts, plus this will be my first race with a D-tag!
• I tried my wetsuit on the other day. It was disturbingly easy to get on. Maybe that is because I wasn't struggling to put it on inside an itty bitty changing room on a warm day. And there was no major tugging and pulling of neoprene while swearing under my breath. It looks like it fits okay...but still... Ruh roh!
• Still out front in the office hockey pool. Yay me!
• Someone stole my last piece of string cheese from out of the fridge at work yesterday. i was very upset.
  
• Busy weekend in the works - massage, getting my hair done, have to do my taxes, racing on Sunday, plus a super fun scientific experiment is in the works!
• Friday is my two year blogaversary!
  

Have a great weekend all!

Canucks Sweep!!

I thought it might be a long night as the Canucks and Blues looked destined to head to second overtime, but the Canucks pulled out a win with 14 seconds left to go! Woo hoo!! My favourite team are into round 2!!!

Last night I went to bed a bit earlier and the little bit of extra sleep threw me since I first woke up at 3:17 am?!? I was up and out of bed when the alarm went off and into the pool right on time at 5:40. We ran through an interesting set that alternated 4 x 50 drills and 2 x decreasing 150s. I liked the 50 drills because it was pretty darn easy to hold on, but I'm finding it tough to continually bust my ass on the longer sets and I keep getting dropped. I look at my old lane and I know that lane is too slow for me. I'm just hoping that something clicks and it is going to be less of a struggle to hang on...

I had a mini-debate in my head this evening. Stay home and watch the hockey game or go to spin class? I was good and DVRed the game and took off for spin class. This was our second to last indoor session so that meant another tough workout. We did some gear pyramids, some hard efforts and a 15 minute simulated hilly time trial. Followed by an all out, gut busting session of pace line. I was downing the water but the high heart rate workout meant that my stomach was supremely unhappy with anything I threw in there. Luckily I made it through without an unfortunate incidents though! I hopped off the bike, stretched and skipped core to make it home for the rest of the hockey game.

Alright, time to head off to bed since I have an early morning! Night all!!

Yoga Incentive

We have a little hockey pool going at work. We all predicted who we thought would win each game, guessed what the winning number of goals would be and took a stab at who we thought would win the Stanley Cup. So if you guess the correct game winner and the correct number of winning goals you get bonus points, plus if your winning team gets a shutout you get more bonus points. I was pretty excited to see that I was winning as of this morning (mostly due to my predictions for the Canuck wins this past weekend)! No doubt it will all change by the end of the night this evening, but at least I was on top for one day!

My 5 card drop in pass at Bodhi Tree Yoga is expiring later this week. I had one session left on the card so I'd better use it up! I also picked up a new yoga top from Lululemon on Friday, so double incentive!
I went to the 4 pm Moksha class which felt so good. I could tell that my hips and quads were super tight though!

I'm still trying to come up with a race plan for Sunday.... I have my race and heart rate goals figured out, I'm just struggling with what positive things I'm going to say to myself when the going gets tough. Why is that so hard to figure out?

First Group Ride Outside!!

Last week after my first flat on a ride I made a comment that I needed to spend some quality time in the comfort of my own home changing a tire so that I could learn to get comfortable with it. Turns out that I had my first chance for that on Friday night. I was hanging out in my garage putting my new bottle cages on. I took a look at the bike tire and it was feeling really flat. When I tried to unscrew the little cap to pump it up, this happened:

It wasn’t too big of a deal changing it, but I’m not sure I’m in love with these tubes since the stems are a bit short. Once the tire was changed and the wheel back on the bike the Canucks – St. Louis game was starting up and I settled into the coach for the night. Wow, was it an amazing game last night with some fantastic goaltending! Highlights are here.

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This morning we had our first team group ride outdoors. We met up at 11:00 just outside of Cochrane. I was pretty nervous driving in – there are a few Canadian flags at the turnoff and they were really blowing in the wind. I had visions of my ride from a couple of weeks ago that was just miserably windy. I never counted but I’m guessing that we probably had 20 people or so show up. Some of us were teammates, there were a couple of girls from the Canada Junior team (?) that Angie is working with, and a few other friends of Angie’s. Angie wanted us to spin high cadence above 90 RPM as much as possible and just get comfortable being on the bike – reaching for your water bottle, moving around in your handlebars, that sort of stuff. I was feeling really good riding – way better than a couple of weeks ago, although to be fair, that ride was after a big run weekend including a 10K race. As we started to hit the rolling uphills I was feeling strong on those hills. It was windy out, but luckily it felt like a crosswind most of the time. At one point a peloton of probably 10 riders zoomed right past us. They were riding in a big pack really close to one another, taking up the entire road with. When they were right behind me it almost sounded like a car was passing. They flew past almost like I was standing still.

Before I knew it I was up near the front of the pack and having a blast. We turned on to the road where the rolling hills became a bit bigger. Last year this spot was my nemesis and I always struggled and huffed and puffed my way along. I was expecting to get dropped like a hot potato by the riders around me, but to my surprise I stayed strong. Why had this stretch felt so difficult last year? I even powered my way up this hill really well too:

The picture really doesn’t do it justice, but it always looks scary and big to me. Anyhow, it looks like all of the riding indoors is paying off! When we hit the stop sign we regrouped and I took the opportunity to down a vanilla Hammer Gel. All of the tough uphill riding was behind us. We continued on in a loop rather than doing an out and back. I took off with a couple of teammates, Karen and Leslie Ann. These ladies are such a hoot and I loved riding with them. We hit another stop sign and turned to head back towards Cochrane. From here there were some rollers, but it was pretty well a net downhill. We were just flying back!! We finished up a loop back to our cars and rode for 26.5 miles.

I threw the bike back in the car, swapped out the bike shoes for some running shoes and took off on my T2 run. I ran an out and back along a gravel road and my legs felt dead. The crazy uphill along the road didn’t help much either! Despite feeling like I’m going nowhere I am always surprised at my pace on these post-bike runs. I ran just short of 20 minutes, then hopped in the car and headed home for some lunch.

After scarfing down my lunch I settled in to watch this past week’s episode of CSI. Hilarious and interesting episode (loved the crazy sci-fi TV show story line) but I just couldn’t keep my eyes open and I wound up napping for three hours…in my bike clothes and ball cap!!

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Anyhow, time to run since I’ve got to eat (again) and head off to a friend’s birthday party – happy birthday Michelle!! I just saw this on TV though. Apparently some yahoo stole a stick out of Alexei Kovalev’s hand through the little hole in the glass for press photographers. How crazy is that?

Anyhow, hope everyone is having a great weekend!!

Thanksgiving Weekend - Day 1 and 2

I forgot to mention that this weekend is Thanksgiving up north here. Today is actually Thanksgiving Day, so happy Thanksgiving everyone! I'm currently sitting around in sweats contemplating my 3 mi run and weight lifting routine on my schedule for today. But anyhow, let's talk about what I've already done this weekend:

Friday:
I headed out to Speed Theory to pick up some more Hammer Gels. I also needed some bike shoe covers and a bike computer, so because I didn't feel like running around to a bunch of stores I picked up the one that the fellow at Speed Theory recommended - the Sigma BC 1606L.

Saturday:
The day of my 12.5 mi run. I had the alarm set to go off at 6:30 am and I just could not drag my behind out of bed. I finally rolled out somewhere around 8 or 8:30 and proceeded to putter around the house. It was sunny outside, but still cold and I was waiting for it to warm up. I also had an invite to Thanksgiving dinner at my sister-in-law's mother's and her husband's place at 4:00, and I was responsible for bringing a dish. So I sat around perusing recipe books trying to decide what I wanted to bring. I settled on a baked butternut squash recipe so I made up my grocery list and headed out to Safeway. While I was there my sister-in-law called to let me know that we weren't arriving at 4, we were eating at 4. I'd wasted so much time that with baking squash there was no way that 12.5 mi were going to happen that day. So I got my squash ready, then headed out for dinner:Yes, that might be a Kylie Minogue CD in my side pocket door there. Please don't make fun. Here's the finished dish - creamy butternut baked squash:
Dinner was fantastic - turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green beans, carrots, coleslaw, Ambrosia salad, my squash, and carrot cake. Good stuff! My brother and I had to leave around 7:00 though because I'd managed to score tickets to the Calgary Flames home opener that night. Yeah...we were sitting very high up. I think you could get altitude sickness up there. I made up for not running my 12.5 miler by walking up and down to our seats a couple of times. The Flames were playing the Vancouver Canucks - my favourite team! My brother cheers for the Flames so I figured there would be some good ribbing depending on who was winning or losing.The game was a really good time. The Canucks opened the scoring but at the end of the first period it was 3-1 Flames. The Canucks came back to tie it, only to go down by a goal again. The Canucks tied it up and we went to overtime where the Canucks pulled it out and got the game winner. Good times! It was then time to head home and I wasn't in bed until well after midnight.

Sunday:
So all of a sudden I had a 12.5 miler and a 1 to 1-1/2 hour bike ride on my schedule for the day. Good thing I didn't have anything else going on! I just could not get out of bed at 6:30 again and I wound up leaving the house for my run at 11:30 am. It was really sunny out, but still kind of cold and the wind was pretty fierce. I started off in capris, a long sleeve t, and a midweight top over it. I had to lose the top pretty early on as the sun was making me heat up. About 2 mi in to my run I noticed a loose German shepherd in on one of the side streets I was on. He didn't have a collar on and truthfully, he didn't seem all that friendly. I didn't have my cell phone on me, so I tried to talk to a few residents to see if they knew who he belonged to, but no one had ever seen him before. There wasn't too much I could do, so I just kept going. I sort of wound up running 19:1 intervals, except I would mostly only stop and walk to drink some water, and then start back up running again. Every mile was in the low 10:00s so I was running really strong, even on the uphills. After 6 miles I stopped to take a chocolate mint Gu. Oh...my...word... This is the best flavour ever! It is kind of like eating a soft After Eight mint. If I would have kept running to 13.1 miles I would have set a new PR for that distance today, so yes, my running is most definitely getting faster!

After the run it was home to make lunch and to try and set up my bike computer. The speed sensor is supposed to be on the front wheel but the wire was just long enough that I was able to get it to the back wheel. This way I'll be able to have some speed information while I'm on my trainer. Once I was set up I pumped up my tires, threw the bike in the back of the car and headed out to Cochrane for a ride. Clouds had started to roll in towards the end of my run and it wasn't looking so pretty as I drove out there. There were even a few sprinkles. I wasn't even going to aim for an 1-1/2 hour ride, I was just going to go for an hour.

I was well bundled up from the cold wind and I felt pretty comfortable out there. I couldn't even feel the sprinkles. I took it easy on the speed though because the roads were definitely slick and I didn't want to run the risk of wiping out. I gave my new shoe covers a try and they were fantastic for keeping my feet nice and toasty warm:
I got in just over 15 miles, and then it was time to head home and make something appropriate for Thanksgiving. I had a boneless, skinless turkey breast that had been marinating in a rub of black pepper, cumin, chili powder, sage, lime juice and olive oil that I grilled up. I made up some Brussels sprouts with bacon and chestnuts and some broccoli for the side. It was delicious!The wine was pretty good too...Alright, time to stop contemplating my run and weight lifting routine as I'm babysitting my niece this afternoon. For everyone celebrating Thanksgiving today, I hope you have a fantastic day!

Coming out of the weekend in one piece

So...I survived Thanksgiving weekend here. Friday night was meet all of the BF's friends and despite the fact that I don't watch Dr. Who I think I did okay overall. Saturday morning was a group run with my San Francisco ladies. They were planning on an hour out, an hour back and I was really mostly along for the ride. We started downtown at the YMCA and made it all the way to Edworthy in our hour. On the way back Stacey and I kept a pretty good pace together and kept picking the pace up a bit, resulting in a bit of a negative split. We finished up with 10.2 miles in 1:56:37. A few of us gathered for coffee and a bite to eat, and then it was time to move on. Saturday afternoon was Thanksgiving Dinner #1 at my sister-in-law's mom's place. We chowed down on turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, carrots and pumpkin pie. It was a good time with family, but then it was time to head off to the Flames vs. Canucks game for the 8 pm puck drop. So, I hemmed and hawed about whether to visually show my support for my beloved Canucks by wearing a shirt and well...I'm sure you are all dying to know the answer. I decided that since my opportunities to go to a Canucks games are few and far between I went for the shirt - a t-shirt my brother had given me a few years back with their classic NHL logo on it, and Trevor Linden's name and number of the back. I certainly heard a few things about it in the box, let me tell you...but I'm glad I went for it. By the way - this box...wow! On the center line, facing the benches - the view was amazing. The Flames scored first, leaving things 1-0 at the end of the first period. In the second period the Canucks took full advantage of the power plays and came out with a 3-1 lead. Things looked good until the Flames were able to claw their way back to a 3-3 tie in regulation. Overtime.... The Flames took a penalty with 12 sec left to play, and with 4.7 sec left on the clock the Canucks made the most of their man advantage and came away with a 4-3 win. Hurrah!! The shirt made an interesting talking point with the other folks in the box, and at least I didn't have to walk shame faced out of the stadium. Sunday was a drive up north to Edmonton to meet the BF's paternal grandparents for Thanksgiving Dinner #2 at their place. This time it was ham, scalloped potatoes, cauliflower, broccoli and pumpkin pie for dinner. It was fun meeting a few of the family members and I think I managed to survive this key meeting too. Monday I contemplated running for a few minutes, but really I wanted to make the most of a relaxing weekend and it just didn't happen. In the evening it was off to my brother and sister-in-law's for Thanksgiving Dinner #3. Major kudos to those two on an amazing meal - roasted veggie soup, turkey breasts wrapped in oodles of bacon and smoked over maple, mashed potatoes, carrots and cornbread and chorizo stuffing. I supplied the cranberries (done in port with orange zest) and the dessert (apple, cranberry and raisin crisp) and it was truly a feast. All in all, a great weekend. Now time to get back to running..!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I didn't say too much regarding yoga on Wednesday...mostly because I forgot to...but it was a terrific class. We moved on to a few new poses that required quite a bit of balance and concentration. In addition our instructor had us practice a few Chaturangas (as shown on the right) which really helps to improve your upper body strength. I was able to hold a few of these for 30 sec each. If we are able to do good Chaturangas then we'll be able to move on to headstands before the class is up. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we get there..! The hockey game last night...meh...it was alright. If the game isn't exciting it is hard for me to get into it if I don't have a vested interest in one of the teams. Of course the game I am really looking forward to is tomorrow night's game versus the Vancouver Canucks. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for the Canucks to pull out a win here. Besides hockey tomorrow night it is a pretty busy weekend here. We get a long weekend as our Thanksgiving is on Monday. (Did you guys know that Canada had its first recorded Thanksgiving 43 years before the American Thanksgiving at Plymouth Rock?) I'm meeting up with the ladies for an 11 miler tomorrow morning. I opted to add the weekend mileage together into one long run on Saturday to get a final run in with the ladies before the San Francisco race in two weeks. Sunday I'm off to Edmonton for the day to be introduced to the new BF's extended family for their Thanksgiving dinner. Yeah....slightly nervous about that one so wish me luck. Monday is dinner with my brother, sister-in-law and niece. Brother D is smoking turkey breasts so it should be a good meal. And somewhere in the middle of all of this I have to attempt to study for my engineering ethics exam that is coming up on October 15. Pass this and I'm one step closer to being a Professional Engineer. This isn't really looking like a relaxing long weekend, is it?

A group run over lunch - a new recruit!

It was time to get a run in over lunch today, so I met up with Tamie, one of the ladies I met through Instructor S's running group. Also, a girl in my office, Pauline, is keen to join for runs even though she hasn't done much running so far. A new running recruit! I checked the temperature before leaving the office - 3 deg C!! Or 37 deg F... I did not pack my running clothes for 3 deg C weather so all of a sudden I was nervous. I grabbed my woolly cap and mits and Pauline and I took off to meet Tamie. As soon as we hit the pathway at the river we started running and within 30 sec I took off the hat and mits - too hot! This weather is a tricky one to figure out how to dress appropriately for... I was planning on running 4 mi, but since Pauline is still new to all of this she only joined us part way. She did a great job keeping up, and she is becoming gung ho on this running thing. Yeah...it is addictive! She's going to aim to run a race soon, as she's working hard to convince a few runners in our office that have fallen off the bandwagon that they should join for Thursday lunch time runs as well. I read a great article in the New York Times over the joys of group running, and it is true. You make true friends while out running - you bond faster than you might normally otherwise do, and all topics of conversation are on the table. I've really enjoyed running with Tamie so far and I feel like we share some great conversation. I logged 4.17 miles to make for 10 miles for the week so far. Tonight I'm off to see the Flames take on the Philly Flyers in their NHL home season opener. Fingers crossed for a good game!

One of these things is not like the other...

I did get my 4.5 miles in over lunch yesterday. My legs were tired from Fit Ball and the first 2 mi felt kinda sluggish. When I hit my turnaround point I said to myself, "Come on Leana, tired is a state of mind and you are not tired." The back half felt much better after I said that! It was a busy day on the pathway over lunch as tons of people were out trying to enjoy the last of the nice weather before winter arrives. I ran into three coworkers along the way. Fall is definitely here - the leaves are all changing and the pathways are strewn with them. Luckily the temperatures are still nice enough to give the ol' running skirts a few last glimpses of sunshine before having to be packed away and replaced by the running tights.

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The hockey game was okay last night. Preseason....what can I say? It looked like it was going to be a rough night after San Jose scored two goals in the opening minutes, but Calgary fought back and won it in a shoot out. Hockey made for a late night and it was a serious rush out the door this morning. Apparently I was so rushed that I grabbed two shoes and put them on without paying attention. I was a block from work when I realized that those two shoes didn't match.... Yeah, who is acting their hair colour today? Thank goodness for my runners in my gym bag, and at least I have been able to provide my coworkers with a good laugh this morning. Today I'm aiming for 4 mi over lunch. With the post Fit Ball run, yesterday and today I'll hit my 10 midweek miles. Yoga tonight, and who knows what tomorrow... Hopefully matching shoes at least.

How to fit it all in?

This week is going to be an exercise in time management....something I've been lacking over the last couple of weeks. Or maybe just spectacular planning. Last night was circuit day at Fit Ball and Instructor S really worked us hard! At one point during a rest break you could hear the entire room panting and breathing heavy, trying to get the heart rate down before starting up again. A few of us went for a quick 20 min jog after class for a final cardio kick.

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Tonight I'm off to see the Calgary Flames take on the San Jose Sharks with N in preseason action. Our social club at work has 7 pairs of season tickets, and you could put your name into a draw for the chance to purchase a pair of preseason seats. My name was pulled yesterday, so tonight it is chicken fingers, fries, a beer and big, burly men on ice for this gal. I can't wait... With the puck dropping at 7 pm I'm going to have to squeeze a run in over lunch. The goal is 4.5 mi or so. I won't be making it out to meet the Roadrunners...again... One day Karen, I promise...but hockey takes precedence!

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Tomorrow night is yoga again, plus I'm thinking about trying to get midweek run #2 in over lunch as well. That way I can take Thursday as a rest day or go to Stretch and Strengthen yoga... Friday will be 6 miles over lunch (which is a bit long for a lunch time run), then a massage in the evening. Saturday will be 12 miles with the group. I'm juggling my schedule partially so that I can get that 12 mile run in with the group as I know I'd appreciate some company on the long run. I have to put all this down in print so that it helps me commit to getting it done this week. I slacked off a bit last week by only getting two runs in for a grand total of 11 miles. That includes Saturday's race by the way. I think craziness at work caught up with me though, and I definitely needed the break, but this week I am back on the bandwagon.

Back to 100%

I feel better, I got my replacement iron ring today. Apparently people lose their rings pretty frequently....there were a ton of people in the office at APEGGA (The Association of Professional Engineers, Geologists, and Geophysicists of Alberta) getting a new one at 2 pm today. I sized down since I'm pretty sure my ring came off when I was washing my hands the other day. Also DGB and I took Instructor S out for lunch today as kind of a thank you and as a way to say, "Wow, we really enjoyed Bikini Boot Camp." We gave her a photo album with a few of our race pictures in there, but primarily blank so that she can chronicle her future success stories, be it through BBC, Team In Training, or through her personal run coach program. In other non-running related news I am the happiest little Vancouver Canucks fan ever. I have an invite to a corporate box at the Pengrowth Saddledome on Saturday, October 6 to see the Calgary Flames play the Vancouver Canucks. Part of me really wants to wear my jersey to support my boys, but other parts of me think:

1. I am going to this game solo (since I get one ticket through a work related contact) and I'm afraid that I'll get beat up waiting for the train or walking to the game (people take their hockey seriously here you see....)
2. This is a work related function, and maybe I shouldn't be so blatantly obvious about the fact that I'm not supporting the hometown team, especially since probably everyone else in the box will be.

Oh the dilemmas...