With Pan-Am gold, Moran now an elite runner
Dayton native wins 5K in meet record
BY TIM MORRIS
Staff Writer

Dayton's Ed Moran, shown here competing during his William& Mary days, has emerged as one of the top professional distance runners in the nation.

Don't ask Ed Moran about what sights to check out when you're in Rio. He couldn't tell you very much about the Brazilian city, even after a week-long business trip there.

"I stayed in the Village and concentrated on the task at hand," he pointed out.

That task was running the 5,000 meters for the United States in the Pan-American Games, and his memories are positively golden, as in a Pan-Am gold medal.

Rio hosted the 2007 Games, an Olympic-style competition involving athletes from North and South America, and Moran, a scholastic star at Notre Dame High School via Dayton, took home the gold medal with the added reward of setting a new Pan-Am Games record, 13:25.60, in the process.

It was Moran's first-ever international meet and the first time he was representing the United States. It's easily the biggest win of his career.

"It was extremely exciting to win," he said. "Any time you compete in an international race representing the United States is special. The Pan-Am record was a special bonus."

Moran, who had finished fifth at the recent national outdoor championships, has been steadily climbing up the ladder toward the top of U.S. distance running. Now, he knows he has arrived there.

"I finally made it to the upper echelon where I can make a run for the Olympic team," he said. "That's my goal."

In June at the outdoor nationals, Moran was looking to finish in the top three so that he could make the U.S. team for the World Championships later this month in Osaka, Japan. A fifth place closed that door, but the Pan-Games door swung open instead. Not a bad consolation, he would admit.

Moran had only competed internationally once before prior to Rio and that was in a Ekiden marathon relay in Japan last year, where the U.S. team finished third. The Pan-Am Games were the first time he was a member of an American team at an international championship. When the U.S. team members met at George Mason University before setting off for Rio, Moran could sense the difference it makes to an athlete when they are competing for their country.

"When you are given that uniform, it's a special feeling," he said. "At this level it's what you're working for, to make a USA team. It lets you know you've kind of made it."

Once he arrived at the Athletes Village, Moran laid low, hanging around the complex and making sure he got his training in. He would do nothing that would jeopardize his chances to run his best.

"Growing up watching the Pan-Am Games on television, it was a special moment for me stepping on that track," he said. "Going into the race, I wanted to see if I could walk away with a medal."

In Rio, it wasn't just American distance stars that he was up against, he was competing against a world-class field that included New York City Marathon champion Marlison Santos of Brazil and Mexican runners Juan Luis Barrios and Jose David Galvin, who had personal bests of 13:11.37 and 13:12.18 respectively - faster than Moran's own pb of 13:20.35. But in international championship finals, you can throw the pb's out.

"The race set up perfectly for me," Moran noted. "I wanted to sit back, see how the race developed over the first two- or three-thousand meters.

"The two Mexicans, Barrios and Galvin, traded off the lead, and then Santos kept us moving at a relatively good clip.

"At two miles I was extremely relaxed and calm," he added. "I knew I had a chance to win it. I was calculating how out far out I could go and hold it to the finish. I didn't want to get stuck with kickers with 400 to go."

Moran attacked with 1,000 meters remaining. The long drive to the finish had begun and to his surprise, a gap had opened immediately.

"There was no response out of anyone else," he recalled. "I checked out the Jumbo Tron every 200 meters. At the bell lap, I couldn't see anyone and knew that I had a 30-40-meter lead. With 200 to go I took one last view; that's when I knew I was going to do it."

All of this almost didn't happen for the Dayton native. Just two years ago, he was ready to bid running adieu.

Moran's breakthrough race was the 2005 US Outdoor Nationals. It would be his last race wearing a William and Mary singlet, and he had every intention of calling it a career afterward, even through he had been a four-time All-American at the college.

"I was ready to hang up the shoes," he said. "I was ready to move on."

But those shoes had different ideas. Moran would run the race of his life, up to that point. Running against the country's best professionals, he finished seventh. He lowered his personal best from 13:40 to 13:25.87. For the first time, he began to believe he could compete with the likes of Adam Goucher and Tim Broe.

"It was a huge mental step for me," he explained. "I realized I didn't need to fear them. I could run with them."

Moran was the only amateur in the 5K final, but that wasn't for very long. Nike offered him a contract after the finish of the race, and those plans of joining the work force were put on hold.

Moran's Nike contract runs through 2008. Currently, he is training under his college coach at W&M, Alex Gibby, for next year's Olympic Trials and living in Willamsburg, Va.

"It's the perfect situation for me," he said. "As an assistant coach (cross country and track and field), I get to work with a great group of student-athletes.

"My coach (Gibby) and I finally began to understand each other," he added. "Everything is working."

With a personal best of 27:43 for the 10,000 meters, Moran has the Olympic A standard for both the 5K and 10K, giving him two distances to take a shot at an Olympic berth in. He said he will narrow it down to one for next year's trials.

As for what he missed in Rio, Moran said, "I can always go back as a tourist."

He added that he will soon receive a commemorative case for his gold medal and that you can guarantee "it won't be sold on eBay."

Moran does hope that he might get some sightseeing in Europe before the summer is over. He is waiting to hear if he will be able to get into some races on the European circuit. His Pan-Am gold should help pry open the door.

"I'd like to get into a fast 3K or 5K and see what I can do," he said.