What do you do before races? Warm up + shakeouts

Everyone is different -

I usually do 15 minutes. Starting out really slow and focusing on just loosening up my hip flexors and getting things going (I sit too much at work).

Then I'll do very light stretching, trying to do some active stretching - again, sitting at work.

If I have time with my flats on, I'll do another 3-4 minute jog, a bit quicker with some strides or other drills to really get the muscles/heart fired up a bit. When the gun goes, I want my body to be ready to move as hard as it can while being prepared. Nothing worse than your muscles being loose, but your heart/body isn't ready for the super intense racing.

just my two cents wrote:

Everyone is different -

I usually do 15 minutes. Starting out really slow and focusing on just loosening up my hip flexors and getting things going (I sit too much at work).

Then I'll do very light stretching, trying to do some active stretching - again, sitting at work.

If I have time with my flats on, I'll do another 3-4 minute jog, a bit quicker with some strides or other drills to really get the muscles/heart fired up a bit. When the gun goes, I want my body to be ready to move as hard as it can while being prepared. Nothing worse than your muscles being loose, but your heart/body isn't ready for the super intense racing.

I definitely agree with the last part- pretty much during my high school years I didn't do a warm up before a race, just dynamic stretching. When the gun went off it was a sudden rush and I just wasn't prepared. I actually would run much faster in practice after we did warm ups and didn't really find out why until college, I used to just think it was a waste of energy!

This is pretty similar to what I do. I will typically go out for about 6-7 minutes, running the end of the course backwards, then turn around and finish the course (without crossing the finish line, of course), usually getting to 12-13 minutes. Then I hit the bathroom if I can, do my static stretching routine, get some water, hit the bathrooms yet again if I can, and then usually do another 2 or 3 minutes of light jogging to get to 1bout 15 minutes total. Flats go on, I go over to the line, do my strides, some of them with some built in drills, put my hand over my heart, stand respectfully while the national anthem is sang or played (but you do your own thing on that one - no judgment here), and get ready to race.

I used to start 35 minutes before a race and do a 12 minute run, then stretch, then do 6-8 strides (starting with easy ones and picking up the pace).

Nowadays for a 5K, I start 40-45 minutes before the race and jog the course and keep moving around until the start. I negative-split 5Ks, so I find that I don't need strides. I don't stretch any more, ever. For a half, I jog easily for maybe a mile, sometimes less.

A few hours before any race (from 1500m up to XC 10k) I do a very easy 2 mile shakeout and dynamic stretches.

An hour before the start I either jog the course or 3 miles, then do drills and dynamic stretching. Around 15 minutes before the start I spike up and go through drills one more time. With 10 minutes to go I go to the line and do 2x150-200m strides, then I just try to stay loose until the start.

I usually do lots of 100 mile weeks followed by tempos and speed work before a race.