Jonathan Crowe ran in the Jack Quinn's Running Club 5K Championship race on Saturday in Monument Valley Park.

He didn't race to win. He simply wanted to run, to feel his body move again.

And while the field of runners charged to the finish, and race organizers celebrated the club's first timed 5K, Crowe wiped a tear off of his cheek and experienced a miracle.

He knew he was lucky to be there.

On Aug. 20, 2010, he wrecked his bicycle while riding in Frisco. One second he was flying along, the next he had missed a turn and was lying in a ditch.

Results: PikesPeakSports.us Finish Line Index
Jack Quinn's 5K photos: Gallery 1 and Gallery 2
Video: Start of the 5K Championship Race and Interview with women's winner Louise Kriel

"I was stunned, but I thought I was just bruised," Crowe said.

He got to his feet, unaware that he had fractured seven vertebrae, including the C2 vertebrae in his neck - an injury doctors call the "hangman's fracture," the same injury that paralyzed and ultimately killed actor Christopher Reeve.

"I stood up and fortunately there was a doctor nearby," Crowe said. "He told me to lie down. He probably saved my life."

Crowe, 58, is well known around the Jack Quinn's Running Club. He has well over 100 club runs to his credit, and was a veteran of many 5K and 10K events in Colorado Springs.

"It really is special having him run today," said Shawn Finley, Jack Quinn's Running Club president. "He has quite a story to tell."

Crowe spent months in a halo, an uncomfortable metal framework that held his head and neck motionless as he healed. He still has indentations on his forehead where the halo was affixed.

Nine long months after his accident - in May, 2011 - he participated in the Pikes Peak Road Runners' Nielson Challenge, a flat 2-mile run held on the first Saturday of each month.

"I did it, but I realized I had to take a break," Crowe said.

He didn't want to push too fast. Spinal and neck injuries can't be rushed. He wondered if he'd ever run again.

But this spring he returned to the Jack Quinn's Running Club for some easy miles. And on Saturday he finished the Jack Quinn's 5K in 26:45. Crowe was happy. But more than anything, he was grateful.

"I was in tears for part of it," he said. "To think I'm doing this again when by all rights I shouldn't be here."