Ok Scrap you've got me thinking about it - although I admit to complete laziness and stupidity for not really having put a lot of thought into it before apart from concluding that a longish walk warm up seems to make running easier .

I googled and found this:

The four key elements that should be included to ensure an effective and complete warm up are:
  1. The general warm up
    This phase of the warm up consists of 5 to 15 minutes of light physical activity. The aim here is to elevate the heart rate and respiratory rate, increase blood flow and increase muscle temperature.
  2. Static stretching
    Next, 5 to 15 minutes of gentle static stretching should be used to gradually lengthen all the major muscle groups and associated tendons of the body.
  3. The sports specific warm up
    During this phase of the warm up, 10 to 15 minutes of sport specific drills and exercises should be used to prepare the athlete for the specific demands of their chosen sport.
  4. Dynamic stretching
    Dynamic stretching involves a controlled, soft bounce or swinging motion to force a particular body part past its usual range of movement. The force of the bounce or swing is gradually increased but should never become radical or uncontrolled.
At this web site:

About.com: http://www.thestretchinghandbook.com/archives/stretching-warmup.htm

Is this more like what you'd recommend?

I'm also not sure I haven't over simplified what you might have been talking about.

If you just google running preparation you get hits that refer to mental preparation, programming your running as well as the stretching and warm up aspects.

I do try to have a time table for the types of runs I want to do and a gradual build up of kms leading up to a specific event. I'll also assume my training will have phases. I'm trying to increase my kms fairly dramatically at the moment but to let my body get used to the extra mileage I'm not worrying about speed training at all.

I'm also doing most of my running on surfaces which are much softer than concrete - loose sand, grass and firmer dirt / running track type surfaces.

I figure this will help not only to reduce impact but to develop some muscle groups. I met a runner in Japan a few years ago who was a firm believer in running on snow and ice for the same reason. Not much of that here though.