As all the athletes are wrapping up their hard training and getting ready to compete in Beijing, I am reminded of the first time I ever traveled outside of Africa for an athletic event, in fact, it was the first time I had traveled so far on a plane.

An exciting moment for a young Gilbert in 1995.

It was 1995 and I was headed to the World University Games (Universiade) in Fukuoka, Japan. There were two of us selected as the first Burundians to attend the games, and both of us had the same first name. Gilbert Mvuyekure and Gilbert Tuhabonye, two high school athletes who were going to compete even though we weren’t in college. There had not been any college kids who qualified to run in the games. For us, it was a very last minute trip. I was really nervous as I knew it would be a lot of changing planes and a long time in the air.

As we were leaving the airport in Burundi, I ran into the most influential Burundian athlete of the time – Alois Nizigama. He was coming from the World Championships in Gothenburg, Sweden, where he had finished 5^th in the 10K. He knew I was headed to Japan and was really thrilled for me. Alois had come to see me in the hospital when I was recuperating from the burns and injuries I suffered from the attack on my school in 1993. He was very kind to me and gave me exercise clothes at the hospital when I had none. I found myself again the recipient of this man’s generosity.

Here I was traveling to Japan to compete in a prestigious international competition, but I did not have a uniform for the country of Burundi. Alois had such a great uniform, with a track suit, shorts, tights, gloves, a singlet and a red top – they were all very professional looking. They were the nicest running clothes I’d ever seen. I was really sad as I wanted to represent my country well, but they did not have a uniform for me.

Do you know that Alois handed me his gear? I couldn’t believe it! I was so thrilled and honored to wear the colors of my country and to receive such a generous gift from this man that I admired. Of course, I packed it in my bag and set off for Japan.

The Olympics are really about bringing people together from all over the world in the spirit of peace – to compete at the highest level and to find within ourselves, the power to push our bodies and our minds to the limit. It’s truly a shame that some world athletic events have been marred by scandal. But, for every scandal, there’s at least a positive, inspirational story about someone who gets to go to the Games and has the opportunity of a lifetime – the pinnacle sporting event for any athlete.

When I arrived in Japan in 1995, of course, I realized that my teammate Gilbert did not have a uniform either. So, at the opening ceremony, we shared the clothing from Alois Nizigama’s gym bag. I gave my fellow athlete the track suit and I wore the singlet and tights. People thought I was crazy for giving up any of that gear, but I knew that I was given a great gift and had to pass it along. More important than what I possessed was the opportunity for the two of us to demonstrate our pride to be there representing Burundi, in our country’s colors. What a great memory for me!

Best of luck to all the athletes headed to the Games. We will be watching and waiting to hear your stories.

The Olympics are really coming up fast and furiously and the buzz has begun. The United States has fielded a very strong team in track and field – not just in the sprint and middle distances, but in the long distances too.

Tuhabonye: Don't look for a fast marathon.

The U.S. will be well represented, and so will my fellow Texans — with 19 athletes going to the Olympics who are current or former Longhorns from the University of Texas. We’ll be watching our friends Leo Manzano and Sanya Richards as they will face incredible competition in the international arena but they are both looking really strong.

We cannot ignore the teams from the great continent of Africa, either. The Kenyans and Ethiopians are both sending very strong teams. The competition will be tough and exciting. One of the great aspects of the Olympics is that even when you know a country has great teams and the athletes have trained well, there is always the element of surprise. People can push themselves to extraordinary limits in sports and in life.

Speaking of the Kenyans — Kenyan-American Bernard Lagat has been living and training in Arizona and looks really strong this year. He will do well against the international field in the middle distance. I wish him the best!

In the marathon, I am really rooting for Ryan Hall and think he’s got a decent shot at being on the podium. Ryan has run great marathons all year long, including a terrific showing in London. I don’t want to make any predictions about him, I’ll leave that up to sportscasters, but I know that he has been training very hard and I hope he has a great race!

For all the runners, but especially for the marathoners, they have to carefully adjust to the weather and the air quality. In fact, because of the condition, no one is expecting the marathon to be a very fast marathon.

From my own country, I just found out that three Burundians are going to the Olympics — in the men’s marathon Joachim Nshimirimana will run; Francine Niyonzima will run in the women’s 5,000 meters and Elsie Uwamahoro will compete in women’s swimming. Good luck to me country men and women!

Rebuilding is never easy for an athlete. You always remember what it was like when you were at your peak and you felt the best. Regrouping and healing can be a frustrating process. I see it with my athletes all the time. Sometimes we need to stop and listen to the body and learn from our mistakes.

Getting back to your best can take a long time.

I think getting older has helped me as I’ve grown more patient with myself and my body. After London, I decided to just come back slowly and focus on getting well, and not focus on the next race or marathon.

I have not tried to get back up to running 80-100 miles a week. In fact, for an entire month, I only ran 7 miles a day for 5 days a week – just 35 miles for an entire month. This is hardly any mileage for me at all. But, I focused on building my core and slowly have come up to doing 10 miles a day, 5 days a week. I still have not done a long run, but I am now closer to training the way I did before I got hurt.

And, my patience is beginning to pay off and it shows in my running. Just last week, I was running with some high school and college kids. I was pretty tired and the pace picked up, so the group took off and I let them go.

My goal was to run a 6 minute pace and we had dropped to 5:45 pace with 4 miles to go. I watched them pull ahead and I knew they would really kick it in at the 2 mile mark. Somehow, I was able to drop my own pace from 6:20 to 5:40 and I was still feeling really good. I could see the group ahead of me struggling, so I pushed myself harder to 5:19 and then suddenly, a 5:03 pace. I was thrilled! I haven’t run that fast since before I got hurt.

Sunday, I wanted to go for a run that I knew would recharge my body and my soul. I went alone to the Greenbelt here in Austin, which is a trail with a good amount of hills, rocks, water and solitude. It was a beautiful morning, with hardly anyone around but few hikers.

I really took it easy and just enjoyed the scenery and the quiet. I just ran one hour up the trail, jumping over rocks, running through water and up and down the hills. It is really important to change your running patterns and trails so that you test the limits of your body and engage new muscle groups. I watched my form and controlled my body and my breathing. I returned back down the trail in 45 minutes.

It was really a great run and I left feeling rejuvenated and motivated again. I have been building up my body and my confidence and I am feeling very strong and ready to take on a new challenge – maybe starting with a 10K very soon.

Last weekend, my cousin Bernard and I headed out on Lady Bird Lake for a run together. It always feels good to run with Bernard as we push each other along. I have been running a lot more lately and feeling really good about my physical progress.

Gilbert with Paul Carroza of RunTex.

But running also helps me strengthen my mind and spirit. The trail always reminds me so much of home and my life back in Burundi. Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about how we are all connected and how sometimes this is a very small world.

A friend sent me an email with a link to a website – www.marathondelapaix.org – and, when I went to the website, it really touched my heart. A group of athletes from Burundi have organized a marathon for peace for December 6, 2008.

I was amazed and delighted that people are organizing to make peace happen in my country. I was really struck by the number of people who are committed to giving back to their country and their people. It motivated me to seek out some of my friends.

It had been a long time that I talked to so many of my friends as we all have become so busy in our lives. I spent the weekend trying to find their numbers and re-connect with them. I was delighted to find out that even though we are all in different parts of the world, we all remain committed to giving back to Burundi. Several of my old friends came together to put on this race that has a message of hope and peace for Burundi.

I talked to Vénuste Niyongabo, who won gold medal in the 5,000 meters in the 1996 Summer Olympics, becoming the first champion from Burundi. Vénuste lives in Europe now and plans to head to the Olympics this year, but not to run. He is now the president of the team Burundi Olympian and will be attending on behalf of his employer.

I also reconnected with Patrick Nduwimana, who used to run for the University of Arizona and is now in graduate studies. He is studying how civil war affects the use of natural resources, especially on crop productivity.

Arthemon Hatungimana, who now lives and coaches a club in France, left Burundi in 1992. It was so good to hear his voice – we picked up where we’d left off last. I remind him of the Adidas running shoes he gave me before he left Burundi.

The day of the massacre in Burundi, my captors really wanted those shoes from me and I actually hesitated to give them up. These details of our lives are sometimes lost until we reconnect with others again – I had forgotten about those shoes until we talked the other day.

What a great weekend spent reminiscing, telling jokes, and talking about the good times. Talking with these old friends reminded me so much of wonderful times in Burundi in the 80’s and early 90’s before the violence. I’m so proud of these men who have achieved so much personally and still want to give back to their country in an attempt to bring about hope and peace.

There’s a proverb from Burundi that inspires me: “It is easy to light a fire and difficult to extinguish it.” I know that after the London Marathon, I said I was finished doing marathons. I let go of the dream. But, as April faded into May and now June, I have started to rethink the idea.

'It is easy to light a fire and difficult to extinguish it'.

One day, back in Austin, it was raining so hard and I was waiting for my Gazelle running group. A few people showed up, so I sent them off to run. I thought, well, things happen for a reason and I need to take advantage of the time, so let’s get busy. I locked myself in the annex of RunTex, our local running store. I remembered the day that the doctor in Burundi told me that running was out of the question and I did not want that to happen again.

I knew that my problem from London must be a nerve and I could fix it with core exercises and balance work. I did 800 sit ups straight – regular sit ups, obliques, roman chair. I did balance work – hopping on one leg, two legs, bounding and leg extensions. I turned up my music so loud, from Zaire, a great artist, Koffi Olomide. It was so difficult, but it was really a cleansing exercise for me in many ways – physically and mentally. I realized that I am still strong and I still have a fire burning within me.

While pushing myself, I have been to doctors, physical therapists and massage therapists to try to hasten the recovery. I do as they ask and then I push myself even harder.

I have been joking with friends lately that I am running in the middle of day and behind buses in Austin, to get used to the heat, humidity and pollution.

On a more serious note, I really am enjoying running on Lady Bird Lake here in Austin. It always reminds me so much of Burundi, my home. While many, many miles away from my African homeland, I feel connected to Burundi in a way that is hard to explain. I am running with joy again as I nurture my body back to health and nurture my mind. It helps me think about what might be possible for me as an athlete and a coach.

This connection to the world is really the essence of the Olympic Games. For a short period of time, we all put aside the struggles between us and focus on the competition of the Games. We all swell with pride for our countrymen and women as they compete at the height of their athletic ability.

The Olympic Games allows the world to come together to seek greatness and unite the world into one. Even though I will not be competing in the Beijing Olympics this year, the Olympic flame still burns strong in my heart as it does in all mankind. In my homeland of Burundi we have a word that perfectly describes this collective spirit of humanity…“ubuntu”.

I must go for a run now. This voice in my heart tells me to get out there and move. It reminds me how blessed I am. I wonder how many times I will run between now and 2012?

One of the things I have noticed that athletes ask me is: “How do you get over a bad race?”

Wrapped up in disappointment and reflection after the London marathon.

I always find this interesting when people ask me this and somewhat puzzling. I guess for me, I know that I have survived much, much worse than just DNF-ing a race.

Surviving the genocide in Burundi made me a different person and has completed changed my perspective about many things in life. So many people encouraged me and supported me in my bid to go the Olympics and I received so many wonderful emails after I left London.

I am really trying to understand why people ask me how to overcome a bad race so that I can be a better coach.

Of course, when I realized that I could not go on in London, I was upset as I said in my last blog. But, when I returned to my hotel room and had some time to reflect, I knew that I must just get past it. I try to learn from every race – what I have done well and what I could have done differently or better.

First and foremost is the issue of traveling. For those runners headed to the Olympics, most will have to travel a very long way. For my friends from Africa, it’s no less than 20 hours to China.

Travel of this nature can be brutal, especially for elite athletes who are so used to having a certain routine or rhythm. When I went to London, I did my last run, went for a massage and then sat on the plane for 9 hours. Looking back, I should have done a very light work out, a very easy, relaxing massage. It’s tempting to get your last hard run in at home, but I really suggest easing up before traveling.

Also, I suggest getting on your feet and trying to walk on the plane a bit every 3-4 hours. Drink plenty of water, maybe more water than usual.

The second important thing to do is to give your body time to adjust upon arrival. Especially for China, many athletes will be so excited to go to the Olympics, but they will need to let their bodies adjust to the time difference by arriving with enough time to adjust and get proper rest.

The third important thing is nutrition. Arriving in a different place can cause some challenges to all of your body’s system, especially the digestive system. While many athletes do have set nutrition, it can be hard to find what you want to eat while your body is adjusting. Again, I encourage lots of hydration.

And, it’s very important to maintain regularity by eating fruits, vegetables and fiber. Again, this was an issue for me in London as I ate so much pasta that I had some discomfort for a few days.

Most importantly, the athletes must relax and stay focused. The Olympic experience is so exciting and is filled with distractions. While some athletes can harness their nerves to help them excel, others may need to really focus.

Most of all, it’s the chance of a lifetime and relaxing will help improve overall performance.

Athletes and non-athletes alike often have the dream of going to the Olympic Games — it’s the ultimate experience in sports.

Gilbert hits the road in the Austin half-marathon.

I am no exception and this year, I decided to go for it, but first I needed a qualifying time in the marathon. I decided that the Flora London Marathon was my best shot at getting a qualifying time that might land me a spot on the team of my country — Burundi.

I trained hard in the U.S. and was feeling very good about the upcoming race.

A few weeks before I was heading out to London, I started to experience pain in my sciatic nerve, which started to pull at my hamstring. I continued to train and hope for the best, knowing that I have pushed my body many times before and worked through injury.

When I arrived in London and tried to run, my hamstring really gave me a lot of pain, but I did not panic. I thought it was from sitting on the plane over to London from Texas for ten hours. I continued to train and to stay hydrated and hope for the best.

The marathon is a race that must always be respected. You have to have a strategy and a back up plan. So, on the day of the race, I really felt good and tried to warm up. My hamstring was not cooperating. When I hit mile two, I knew that it was going to be rough and dialed back my time per mile time from 5:15 to 5:42 thinking I could make up the time later.

By mile 3, the pain was so terrible, I knew that the Olympics were out of the question. At mile 4 and 5 I thought that I would just finish the race, I could not quit.

Things began to get worse for me from that point. The rain had started and I was looking for the medical tent. There, they wrapped me up and told me to wait, but I just couldn’t. I headed back to the course and started to walk.

The rain was really coming down at that point and I became upset. My dream was washing away through my tears onto the streets of London. I had never been in this part of a marathon before, but I knew a friend who was running and I tried to find her to help her and encourage her along the way.

Finally, a taxi driver saw me and double-backed, picked me up and dropped me off at my hotel. It was time to regroup and figure this out.

This was not the worse thing that has ever happened to me. I have survived worse situations.

I started to reflect upon the fact that every time I try and train hard for a marathon, something happens. Perhaps this is just not the right time for me.

Perhaps God has something else in mind for me. I am being stubborn and pushing for something that is not supposed to be right now.

Now, I am home in Austin, Texas some weeks later.

Thankfully, my hamstring was not torn. I have done physical therapy and massage therapy to repair the damage.

I have been working hard at strengthening my core to support the rest of my body. I know that I still have that marathon in me, but it was not meant to be for this year.

There are so many issues with these Olympics — the humidity, the pollution and now, the terrible crisis and suffering of the Chinese people hit by the earthquake. They are the ones who need our help, our hope and our prayers