Here are 22 principles that have stuck with me as a result of decades of training, competing and coaching.

I have been thinking a lot about the Boston Marathon this week: The race is on Monday. Here are some thoughts that new Boston runners (and even those who have run it) may find helpful.

Training camps in one form or another have been part of my athletic life since I was 12 years old, the youngest boy on my high school's cross country team.

Runner and triathlete friends, have you planned your 2018 races? Do you have your training plan ready? Are you now training for the big race? If the big race is near, are you following a periodized progression, peaking and recovery plan? If it's far, are you targeting other races and working on the base, lactate threshold, VO2 max, strength and nutrition that you need to excel?

I can taste it! I am so close to qualifying for the Boston Marathon.

Needless to say, I have learned many lessons from my marathoning, many of them what not to do. Here are several thoughts that I hope my fellow runners find helpful, even if they are just reminders.

Anxiety is a natural state leading into a big race, especially when the race is new to you and is an out-of-the-ordinary challenge. Race anxiety is self imposed, a form of approach-avoidance.

Two recent articles on runblogrun.com1,2 by Jeff Benjamin (brought to my attention by Coach Jim Spivey) offer fun retrospectives on racing by Olympic Marathon gold medalist Frank Shorter and multiple Boston Marathon winner Bill Rodgers. We (meaning Frank, Bill and I) are the same age, with Frank a few months older than me and Bill a day younger than me. And, we are all runners and Frank and I have both competed successfully in multisport events.

It's not too early to ask, "How will I race this spring?" That is, beyond your training, what can you do to assure before and during the race that you race well?

Having raced maybe 320 times in marathons and shorter running road races, cross country races, duathlons, Ironman and shorter triathlons, and short track speedskating races including national championships, I know the "now what?" syndrome all too well.

I vowed that some day I would run as fast as Billy. After all, I had learned earlier as a small kid that rather than fighting, my better option was usually flight. I already had indications that I was a runner.

I am running the Baltimore Marathon in the morning. My Annapolis running buddies have been warning me that the course is hilly.

When injury strikes - or when you think it may strike - your mind plays tricks on you. Especially when an athlete is tapering (getting close to and ready for a big race), any twinge or ache can be magnified into a race-stopping event.

By varying your workouts, changing pace and distance, and periodizing your training, you too can get to a new level of fitness and, if you have a goal race ahead, to the starting line prepared for a great outcome.

Three cheers for all those runners who have worked their tails off to score the right to run Boston! To the cheaters, I say "start doing the work."

In training we marathoners typically run our 20 milers slower than we will race; we are out there for the distance not the pace. The likelihood of cramping and crashing and even "tree stump legs" is reduced. To their detriment, I think, that's where most runners in marathon training leave it.

There is always someone crazier. No, not Donald Trump. I am talking about my fellow athletes.

What I might be able to do in July is not necessarily what I can pull off in April.

I savor the moments before the start of a big race. Senses are heightened. Color and sound are vivid. Time crawls. My mind is both in the grand present and deep into the race ahead. Confidence flows from the training, planning and envisioning that preceded this bright point in time. The athletes around me are focused, fellow warriors ready to go. Tension awaits release with the retort of the start gun. Then, suddenly, it's "Go! Go! Go!", a joyous release that completely engages mind and body.

One reason a race can go poorly is because it's easy to forget necessary gear. I know of triathletes who have forgotten their bike and marathoners arriving without their race chip!