Runners, walkers, bicyclists, soccer players, ultimate addicts, softball players, picnickers, too. Good news! It’s spring. Go play.

From the fields below street level near the Schuylkill Expressway to the Woodlands Cemetery and at 40th Street, the campus offers spaces that are great for sports and relaxation. And the Recreation and Athletic departments have activities, formal and informal, to help you stretch away the winter stiffness.

Athletics brings you the Penn Relays, which date to the 19th century. If you’ve never been, you’re missing a track event of national and global import as well as a social event that draws in droves city residents from the neighborhoods to the campus. Upgraded fitness facilities are slated for completion during the next academic year, and a membership drive kicks off in April, offering discounts for early sign-ups.

And sign up your kids for the great sports camps Penn offers.

Meanwhile, if you’re wondering about the backhoes in front of the Franklin Annex, here’s some good news. A small park is going in there, along with more tables along the 36th Street side, said Business Development Marketing Manager Tony Sorrentino. The Thursday evening jazz that kept the 36th Street Plaza next to the Bookstore cool through the heat of last summer will move into the park starting May 30 (See “What’s On” for April jazz dates). By then, you can add the park to your picnic spots, along with the Bio Pond, and the new Stoner Courtyard garden (opening in May) in front of the University Museum.

Whew. So many ways to enjoy the campus.

—Libby Rosof

Articles in this special report:

• • Current staff picks recreation favorites
  • Camps for good sports
  • New ideas shape campus health club expansion
  • Outdoor adventures
  • Penn Relays: The oldest, the biggest, the best in the nation
  • Salute to a Penn Relays pioneer of Olympic stature