Warming up

My sister in law is a non-runner who married into our family knowing we were runners.  Thankfully, she puts up with our sometimes strange habits and conversations.  But that doesn't mean she really understands them.  We had a conversation just the other day about warming up.  Why in the world, she wanted to know, would you go to a race, only to run several miles before the race, then run the race, and then run several more miles after the race.  In her mind, on the ideal race day you would show up, walk to the starting line, run, and then walk away afterward to enjoy the rest of the day.
I have to admit I see her point.  Her strategy is very reasonable for those who are there to enjoy the exercise, be social, and for anyone who won't be running hard that day.  However, she forgets to take into account those of us who are too competitive for their own good, old enough to know better, or who are slaves to the running log.
For those of us who are too competitive, if we jumped in the race without the warm up, it would be tight muscles and soreness the rest of the day.  Not to mention the fact that it would take the first third of the race to get up to racing speed.  The older I get, the more wisdom and necessity I see in the warmup.  It takes me longer to shake out the legs and get them ready to race.  I also know that the cool down actually allows me to walk the rest of the day by working out some of the soreness of hard racing.  Finally, sometimes I run long warm ups or cool downs just so I can log the miles, especially when working towards another longer race.
So if you are new to the idea of warming up, start by jogging a few minutes easily before picking up the pace in either a workout or race.  Then do the same thing afterward. It will make a difference in how you feel during and after hard efforts, and you will take a step closer to becoming a serious runner.  Which is, of course, what we all want to be.