Woman attacked by bear while running marathon

A woman is recovering after she was attacked by a bear while running a marathon.

The incident happened while she was close to the finish line and now she's sharing the terrifying moments.

Karen Williams is nursing serious bites and scratches after the run in with the angry mother bear.

"She was ripping out my upper arms, I had my hands over the head andIi screamed because that hurt and she didn't like like me screaming so she gave me a whack on the side of my head with her left paw," she said.

The marathon runner was just a few miles from the finish line in New Mexico Sunday when she apparently surprised the bear and her three cubs.

"She started shaking me," Williams recalled.

She realized the only way to live was to play dead until the bear left.

"I pretended I was dead and she kept glancing over at me," she said.

Since the bear attacked a person, state law required it to be euthanized and tested for rabies. Her cubs will be sent to a wildlife refuge.

As for Williams, she was found by fellow runners about 30 minutes after the attack and airlifted to the hospital with serious injuries.

"I have a nice chunk out of my eyebrow that I will probably have to get a bit of plastic surgery on," she said.

Doctors tell Williams they expect her to make a full recovery.