It's the creatine in supplements like NO-Explode that have actual performance-enhancing effects. Save yourself (or your parents) a lot of money and find some cheap creatine supplements if that's what you're looking for. There are bazillions of them on the market, and despite the fact that most supplements out there are ****, creatine actually works.

Side effects? Nitric oxide is a free radical. It can damage or kill the cells in your body, causing nasty things like stroke and arthritis. It causes low blood pressure (because your arteries will remain unnaturally dilated following exercise). It interferes with your body's ability to synthesize NO naturally. The supplements used to generate it artificially can cause diarrhea and therefore dehydration. Fun stuff. I'd pass.

With that being said I would not recommend it for distance running. Or any
running at all. It sped my heart rate noticeably. the feeling you get would be
the opposite of what you would usually feel during running, a "pump"
as its called almost hurts, and I assume a few minutes in your legs would be
fully pumped and it would hurt. My arms, chest, back, and legs would all pump
on their respective days, and it was pleasant in a strange sort of way. I dont
think you'd feel the same.

I wouldn't suggest taking it. But if you do dont, please dont waste money on
any BSN supp. they are overpriced and work almost as well as other cheaper
supps. If I were you starting off I would go to wal*mart, yes I actually said
that, and buy their brand of NO. believe it or not the active ingredient in
BSN's and Body Fortress' stuff is L-Arginine Alpha Ketoglutarate, aka LAAK or
NOS. Another point brought up is the safety of the product to my knowledge long
term use hasn't been studied in this drug.

One last thing. Another reason to by the cheap stuff
is that not everyone reacts to LAAK the same. Some react very, very well (as I
do) some just react, and others react very little or not at all. So if your
interested in taking (I wouldn't) it buy the cheap stuff first.

When you need a whole bunch of ATP at once in an anaerobic burst - like when you sprint, or power-lift weights - it's handy to have a whole lot of creatine phosphate in your muscles so that you can generate ATP very quickly. The more, the better. During tasks which require endurance, having more ATP bound to creatine phosphate will not help you much. You're not really using ATP so fast that a boost to the rate at which you can recycle ADP back to ATP is not going to matter much.