SLIPPERY ROCK — Katie Bork loves to run.

A graduate student on the Slippery Rock University cross country team, the North Hills High alum was looking forward to her final season as one of The Rock's top runners.

Then, in a blink of an eye, things changed radically.

Bork was riding her bicycle along Route 173 at dusk on July 1. She doesn't remember much about the car that slammed into her while traveling nearly 55 mph.

All she can recall is the aftermath.

"The accident happened on Tuesday, and I woke up onSunday," Bork said. "I still had hemorrhaging and bleeding in the brain. I went to get out of bed, but I had a catheter and IVs and all kinds of tubes in me, and I just fell to the floor. It was quite a spectacle."

Bork was lucky to be alive.

Her injuries were extensive: broken right femur, level 2 brain injury, several facial fractures, strained ligaments in her neck and torn ligaments in her hip.

Five months later, Bork is doing more than just surviving. She is contributing to the success of the The Rock women's cross country team.

Bork returned to the cross country course Nov. 1 in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference meet and was the fifth-place finisher for her team.

OnNov. 8, she ran in the regional meet and again was the fifth-place runner for SRU, helping The Rock advance to the NCAA Division II national championships for the first time since 1995.

Bork's times were not nearly as good as they were before the accident. Her leg aches, her muscles burn, but she is back and helping her team.

"My femur is still broken," she says. "The only reason I can run is because there is a rod in there supporting it. So, I'm not doing too bad for someone running on a broken leg."

She's not doing bad for someone who doctors wondered if she would ever run again.

Bork said her orthopedic surgeon didn't know what to expect from her recovery. There was a chance the pain would be too great for her to run again.

But three weeks after the accident, she was out of the hospital and off her crutches.

By Sept. 1 she was jogging.

"I couldn't run for very long," Bork said. "I had to stop after a minute and walk some before starting to run again.

"I had to fight with what I wanted to do and what I could do."

Bork had her picture taken with the team, the scars from her accident still evident, her face displaying the red marks of her injuries.

She was part of the team, though.

It didn't take long for Bork to regain her strength. She could run longer and farther. She participated in some team drills, but couldn't go through all of them. She needed to take frequent days off, but thoughts of returning to the team before the end of the season crept into her mind.

Good friend and former teammate EmilySkoczlas witnessed first-hand Bork's work ethic throughout her recovery. The SlipperyRock High graduate had no doubt Bork would return before the end of the season.

"She worked so hard. She's come so far, so fast," Skoczlas said.

Bork admits she is still at only 60 percent, but she and her teammates aren't going to quibble too much about that. They are just happy she is alive.

"They've been wonderful," Bork said. "They were so excited that I was able to run."