Ran hard, about to finish the race (5)
I believe the answer is:
hared
'ran' is the definition.
(haring is a kind of running)
'hard about to finish the race' is the wordplay.
'about' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'to finish' says to take the final letters.
'race' indicates an anagram (I've seen 'racing' mean this (to race around can mean to move)).
The final letter of 'the' is 'e'.
'hard' after 'e' is 'ehard'.
'ehard' is an anagram of 'HARED'.
(Other definitions for hared that I've seen before include "speed" , "Ran very fast, raced" .)