Lansing offers more than a "runner's high" to guests and residents. Routes pass through nature's simplest elements in a city that's full of life.

If you listen closely on a sunny fall afternoon, you might hear the Michigan State University fight song echoing from the state's largest college campus. Follow the sound to Jenison Fieldhouse, where the 300-member Spartan marching band is practicing outside, then bear west along the Red Cedar River until the Michigan capitol building pops into sight.

Variety? Venture south and soon you'll be running alongside buffalo, pigs and horses. North and you're into historic houses. But let's stay, for now, on the campus of MSU.

You won't feel confined here: America's pioneer land-grant college spreads over 5,192 acres of diversity, rich history and relentless life.

On a given football Saturday, more than 70,000 people pack Spartan Stadium, spilling over before and after games to celebrate, win or lose.

On quieter Saturdays and Sundays, runners take over campus with road races such as the Cold Turkey Trot, plus Monster and Dino dashes.

For alumni, visits can pique nostalgia for hours of studying, nights of partying, lessons learned (not always easy) while growing up. For current students, running on campus offers sidewalks bustling with friendly peers, and/or trail get-aways to quiet spots such as the Sanford Natural Area and Baker Woodlot.

Feast your senses on music of the bells from the 104-foot-tall Beaumont Tower, flowers in Beal Botanical Gardens, the slash of steel blades and sticks at Munn Ice Arena. While the band plays outside Jenison, venture into the building where Magic Johnson led the '79 Spartan basketball team to an NCAA crown. The cagers now play in Breslin Center, and have added a 2000 national title, but Jenison maintains its mystique and aura. Coach Jim Stintzi's cross-country teams meet for practice there, and they know.

Huge tips:

* On fall afternoons, you may find gates open to Spartan Stadium. Running up the steps provides an intense workout with a payoff: Gaze from high seats and feel history echo up from the bowl below.

* Need a place to run during long and snowy winter months? The MSU grounds crew does a speedy job clearing sidewalks for morning classes. The school is rebuilding both its indoor and outdoor tracks.

* Love the feel of turf beneath your feet? Make a beeline for Forest Akers Golf Course, where the Spartan Invitational tests cross-country teams each fall.

The campus also hosts Abrams Planetarium and a galaxy of 65,000 works at the Kresge Art Center. Not to mention buildings and labs where scholars invented homogenized milk, hybrid corn and indoor turf.

Want to head toward town? The River Trail, which starts near the Breslin Center, twists and turns alongside the Red Cedar for eight-plus miles. Its paved surface is marked every 400 meters by wooden posts. The path winds past Potter Park Zoo, Board of City and Light and the Fish Ladder, where a neat waterfall descends. Exit at Michigan Avenue and the capitol building, lit at night. stands in view.

More trail running can be enjoyed at Lake Lansing Park, located on Marsh Road at West Lake Drive; and at Abbott Road Park, off Lake Lansing and Abbott roads. Both offer dirt-trail networks and scenery.

The Mid-Michigan Track Club sets the pace for the running community, meeting year-round at tracks, parks and cemeteries. Check out www.mmtrackclub.com or contact Gordon Schafer at GNSchafer@aol.com.

Lansing's Running Fit store (2843 E. Grand River, Suite 100) is center for all things running. The maps (with "completed" streets colored in) of successful participants are now displayed at the store.

"I've run in this area for a dozen years," said Mark Sullivan, one such entrant. "During the Challenge, I found streets I had never seen."

The Playmakers store, at Meridian Mall in Okemos, also offers running gear, race information and expertise (www.playmakers.com).

Fifty-three races are listed on this year's Lansing calendar. Here are favorites:

* YMCA World's Largest 5K, June 1, Parkwood YMCA, East Lansing. Contact Michelle Wolfe at (517) 332-8657 or email mlwolfe@ymcaoflansing.org

* Rhino Run 5K, June 15, Potter Park Zoo, Lansing. Contact Gerry Brady at (517) 483-4221 or tiger@voyager.net

* Ellen's Race 5K, July 28, Pinecrest Elementary School, East Lansing. Phone Rob Thompson at (517) 337-4461.

* Capitol City River Run (10-mile individual, 10-mile relay and 5K), Sept. 29. Contact Dick Miles at (517) 332-2681 or mileselan@prodigy.net

* Dinosaur Dash 5K, Oct. 6, MSU Museum, East Lansing. Contact Bill Matt at 432-4655 or mattw@msu.edu

* MSU Monster Dash 5K, Oct. 27. Contact David Shapiro at (517) 381- 1654 or shapir17@msu.edu

* Cold Turkey Trot 5K, Nov. 10, MSU IM-West Turf Arena. Contact Jon Kermiet at (517) 353-7868 or e-mail jonathan.Kermiet@msu.edu