Location- De Palm Island, Aruba.
Weather- 92, beautiful breeze
Time- 50 minutes

Pre Race- Woken up from the most refreshing nap I've ever taken by my wife who had been reading next to me in a hammock strung up in an open cabana on the beach. Burger and pina colada while walking the 100 yards to the spa hut. Looking through the door I could see the tiny Arubian (sp?) girl who would soon work her magic. Nerves weren't too bad, I'd never had a massage but my wife gave me a good pep talk and I was ready to go.

Head/Shoulders- Oh me oh my.. I'd heard rumors about the thousands of nerve endings in the scalp and can confidently say that she probably hit 99% of them. Her hands worked like magic; temples to cheekbones, eyebrows to neck line, muscles I never knew existed were freed of the stress I never knew they held. Working the traps that seemed to be solid fist size masses of muscle to cookie dough effortlessly she cruised in to T1.
T1- Moist cloth over eyes...wait a second...
Chest/Arms- Quick rub down on chest and off to the arms. Biceps, triceps, forearms, hands, palms, fingers, palms, forearms, forearms again please, forearms, deltoids, biceps, back down the arm to fingertips. Firm grip on hand, do some rotational stretches of arm/shoulder, repeat on other side.
Legs- After trashing my legs over the past few months I knew this was going to be good, where I was wrong though, was how good. Feet worked out well, on to the quads. Here is where I find it nearly impossible to describe the relief that her magic hands provided. Starting at the knees and shooting up the top/inside and alternating the return between inside and outside her arms worked like the arms of a train. Simutaneously crushing all knots, aches, cramps anything in my legs that didn't belong, the bad stuff would slide up the muscle and try to hide and BAM!! Her hands would swoop through and destroy them! So strong, yet so delicate she powered her way to T2.
T2- Flip over on to stomache.
There is a whole side of my body she hasn't touched yet!
Legs- Hit the feet again quickly, and move on to the little devils known as my calves. They've been sneaky all year, cramping, not cramping, being nice, being mean, firing, not firing but now I understand what they wanted- A different kind of thrashing. The hands found all corners of my calves and pulled everything out, leaving them exhausted yet ready to go, beat up but wanting more. I'm not really sure the motion that was used, but I wish I could replicate it. On to the forgotten part of my legs, the often understretched and probably overtrained. Like lightning her hands poured into my muscles and made up for the years of neglect.
Back- I open my eyes and look into the sand below me and see her shoes come in to view. The oil goes on my upper back and the real magic starts. Up and down the spine her fingers seem to turn in to little feelers that latch on to knots instantly and disarm any hold they have on me. An incident overseas has left my back a constant mess since 2005 and in the 2 minutes she had control of it they all seemed to melt away. One shoulder, then the other, then mid back (problem area), then lower, the back to the middle and out to the lats, she gracefully beat my back problems into submission. My eyes shot open as she worked both hands into one knot just inside of my left shoulder blade and I could see her feet were coming off the ground! Tight circles growing wider and wider, pressure backing off and it was gone...

Cool Down- Still face down, she worked my legs/hips through some stretches before moving to my upper body. The stretches felt like nothing ever before, they put any work any chiropractor has done to shame. My guess is that the relaxed tension of the muscles and the fact that they were plenty warmed up by the time the stretching came around are directly related but this was realized afterwards, no time to concentrate during. Then it was done. A tap in the shoulder and I sat up, no pain, for the first time in a long time. My wife could see the relief and comfort in my eyes and said, "How long have I been telling you to try this?"

Post-Race- Tip the wonderful ladies for the amazing job they did, wife was equally as happy, apparently wedding planning is pretty stressful...i kid, i kid. Head over to the beach to soak in what just happened. In an effort to keep me from going on and on about the experience I just had, I find my mouth constantly has a straw in it that is stuck in a pina coloda, then a hurricane and whatever other fruity drink* my wife gives me...it worked until we got on the bus back to our hotel and I started allll over again...

* Fruity drinks are in fact allowed by man law if in a tropical paradise and there are no other men or "bro's" to witness said indulgence.