Another 3:45 a.m. alarm to get the hot water going. While I wait, I put the kettle on to boil and I notice for the first time how quiet, really quiet it is at this time in the morning. Living in Colchester, where you can practically hear the grass grow, is a stark contrast to here, where the constant hum of the city is always the background music of your day. By 4, and the bottom of my cup of (instant, yuck!) of coffee, the chorus of trucks, cars and airplanes has begun their morning tune. The sun is coming up and the new day has dawned.

The walk to the Village from the train station has not gotten any easier with time. It is, in my dad's famous words: "A long way around Robin Hood's barn." And, concerning me more than a little bit, is that my feet are really sore. Many of you know the tale of my feet but for those who don't, I have had three broken feet in the last 24 months. Yep, that's right, three! I remind myself as I trudge along to be careful because this adventure is a marathon, not a sprint!

The team's morning meeting had already started when I got to the Polyclinic but today with a new team leader. Within 10 minutes of sitting down, I was up again, collecting a supply box, special credentials and getting ready to head out to an off-site training venue, Newham. And head out I did, in the athlete's team bus! Sure beat a train and a bus ride each way. Newham was a track and field club, it's facility old and dated, used by London running clubs. Fast forward to London 2012′s revitalization of the east side of the city and all of the changes in its wake. This club, about a 25 minute commute from Olympic Stadium, has been redone, revamped and revived, with no expense to the locals. The facility was upgraded and the track replaced with the exact surface in Olympic Stadium. The best of the best track and field athletes are practicing at this facility now, in what looks like on the outside, at least to the oblivious visitor from the States, to be a high school practice field. The nice thing is that after the Games, it will revert back to the community.

From the time my (sore!) feet hit Newham terracotta, my day was "smashing". I met and worked with a lovely and extremely talented physio, hailing from South Africa to Australia to London. Being a trained, Myofacial technique (MFT) therapist myself, having studied under and TA'd for Oregon based massage guru, Whitney Lowe (OMERI.com), I was thrilled to converse with and have a very mini-exchange with someone with the same passion. Come to find out, she had trained with a Assie MFT therapist who is equally well renowned. But what Newham gave me was something I hadn't had as of yet, being really busy and the chance to do some really different work.

Working at the field house provided the opportunity to do very sport specific massage,whereas in the clinic, it has been more general recovery work. My first athlete was from Trinidad & Tobago and was a 400 meter runner who was training for his first race on Saturday. He had guitar strings at his hamstring attachment sites and a tight and painful psoas.

I worked on a 100 meter competitor from the Bahamas with multiple lower leg issues, who was entering his senior year as a recruited runner for Clemson University. I had the privilege of working on two of the four members from the team from Palau, a tiny, 16-year-old gal who would be running the 100 on Friday and her teammate, an 18 year old boy, who had carried their country's flag in the opening ceremonies and was running the 100 on Saturday. Both of them were so young and so awestruck with the entire Olympic experience. It was so refreshing and touching to see.

The last gal I worked with was training for her fourth Olympic Games and was running on Friday in the 400 meter. In stark contrast to the Palau kids, this woman had a maturity that comes with age and experience, yet it was clear by her dedication that she still had that competitive fire in her belly, something clearly evidenced by her relentless training regiment. If working with these special athletes wasn't enough, when I went into what proved to be a combination office and observation booth to the track to complete the required charting, I did a quick double take and realized I was watching two women practicing that well might be wearing the silver and gold metals at the end of the Games!

Traveling back to the Village on the team bus, I was exhausted but exhilarated. I continue to be in awe of the sacrifice, dedication and commitment of the athletes and humbled by their appreciation of my work. I am living my dream… I am an Olympic Massage Therapist.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Laura Stevenson-Flom is a nationally certified, state-licensed massage therapist with a specialty in sports massage and a private practice in her Colchester home. She will be serving as a volunteer massage therapist at the Summer Olympics, helping assist athletes from around the world. She's been assigned to Athletes' Village, one of seven Olympic Park venues.Find more from Laura at

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