The gold medal rests next to his bed as a reminder. “On days I don’t want to run, I look at it,” said Ed Moran, the native of the Dayton section of South Brunswick who won the 5,000-meter run at last year’s Pan-American Games in Rio De Janiero Brazil.
Moran insists that he is still the same person he was before winning that gold medal. He still coaches and trains at his college alma mater, William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va. The one difference is his standing in the running community. He is now clearly one of America’s best distance runners.
“The only thing that really changed was my expectations of myself,” he said. “It’s been a great motivator. I have a totally different mindset.”
That motivation helped him make the United State Men’s Cross Country Team that competed in Edinburgh, Scotland, in March. Moran was fourth at the U.S. Championships (he was slowed in Edinburgh by Achilles tendinitis that has since healed).
“For me, the experience was special,” he said. “I never saw myself as a cross country runner. I thought I made it to another level (making U.S. team).”
Moran will be looking to add United State Olympian to his athletic resume at the United States Olympic Track and Field Trials, which will run Friday through July 6 on the famed Hayward Field track at the University of Oregon in Eugene.
“I’m excited to be there and compete,” said Moran.
The former Notre Dame High School star qualified for the trials in both the 5 and 10K. He has declared for the 10K, which will be run the night of July 4. With a personal best of 27:43.13, Moran has the fourth best time of any of the 10K qualifiers. The top three finishers at the trials make the U.S. team.
Moran has a simple explanation for his becoming an elite level runner over the last two years, health.
“In the last year, year and a half, I’ve had the best base of my career,” he pointed out. “I’ve broken the injury cycle.
“It’s all about confidence in your training,” he added. “I feel I am further along.”
In his preparation leading up to the trials, Moran has been steadily building up his base. Three or four times a week he put in double runs a day. He’s done a lot of cross training that includes bicycling. Many of those miles, he does on his own, many after glancing at his Pan- Am gold.
He has not raced often this year, and, that has been by design. He’ll let his training speak for him in Eugene. Moran believes the 10K final will be tactical and that it will be the runners who can close with the fastest mile, who will make the Olympic team.
Moran is one of four athletes from the Greater Media area who will by vying for Olympic berths at the Trials.
Former Howell High School star Lindsey Gallo is a contender in the women’s 1,500 meters. Adam Kuehl, who shined at Monmouth Regional, is threat in the men’s discus and ex-Matawan High School sprinter Erison Hurtault is looking to make the team in the men’s 400 meters.