by Erin Croley

It was only 2.85 miles...but it was awesome!

As part of injury recovery training and issues with my breathing, I've lost over two minutes per mile in my pace. This has helped me start to build up my distance and endurance, but it's been tough to get excited about the string of barely-sub-11-minute miles lately. 

Walking out the door to drive to the park for my run, my husband tells me he needs to leave in about 30 minutes for the Rams game. (He's not a Rams fan, but is a football fan, and tonight is the first home pre-season game.) "I'll do my best," I reply, thinking "do you know how slow I've been running?". 

But as I had already talked myself in and out of this run several time this afternoon (having a Moose Drool Brown at lunch and a wicked hole in the bottom of my left foot from stepping on my son's toy seemed like good excuses to bail) I opted to grab a coconut icy pop (not the healthy kind) for the drive and sugar, and headed out. 

by Erin Croley

I've spent the last few days watching my kids chafing their dream, literally. Hours on the sand and in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of North Carolina, my two kids have built sand castles, collected sea shells (and a few pistachio shells), learned to jump over waves and ride them to the shore, and swallowed lots of sea water. They've also developed chafing sand burns on their arms and legs, not realizing it until they hit the stinging bath water after a day of pure, pure joy. 

While they've been busy being kids, I've been standing sentinel on the edge of the shallow sand shelf, sharing in their discoveries and rescuing them when needed. It's been painful and a sacrifice, but a sacrifice I decided to make. 

by Trisha Brennan

When I started running ten years ago, my good friend and running partner introduced me to the NER.  The No Excuse Run. It’s the run that doesn’t require a drive to the park, a plan for which route to take, or to be any particular length.