BOSTON - Plainville native Scott Maloney pounded the pavement from Hopkinton to Copley Square for the first time five years ago.

And he planned to run his final Boston Marathon two years ago, in April 2005.

All that changed, however, on Sept. 18, 2004, when Maloney suffered a devastating brain injury.

But on Monday, against all odds - doctors didn't think he would survive the 2004 fall from a third-floor window - Maloney had his running shoes back on, and he completed another marathon surrounded by his family on a raw and windy Patriots Day.

"The race and conditions got better as time went on," Maloney said. "It went very well." The second of five children, Maloney ran his first marathon as a freshman at Becker College with his brother, Michael, who was then a senior, then ran alone in 2003 and 2004.

Maloney had planned to run his last race as a senior in 2005 with his sister, who would be a freshman at Assumption College. He would then say goodbye to long-distance running.

"That was supposed to be my plan," Maloney said. "I was supposed to hang up my running shoes in 2005."

But early in his senior year at Becker, Maloney fell out of a third story window during a night of drinking and onto the pavement below, suffering traumatic brain injury.

Doctors told his family to expect the worst.They thought it unlikely Maloney would survive, and if he did he would most surely have irreversible brain damage.

He was declared brain dead on the night of the accident, but his family refused to accept that he was gone. They still saw a small flicker in his eye.

After 23 days in a coma, months in the hospital and more than two years of physical therapy, Maloney has recovered in ways his doctors never dreamed possible.

He credits his loving family as a motivating factor.

"We were a close-knit family before, but now it's just through the roof," Maloney said.

Although his athleticism and superior physical condition may have contributed to his miraculous recovery, the family doubted Maloney would ever regain enough strength to run another marathon. His father, Michael Sr., thought otherwise.

"My father made a promise to me while I was in my coma that we'd run it together, and last year he ran it with my brother (Michael Jr.)," Maloney said. "He made a promise that we would run it together one day."

And on Monday, as Maloney ran alongside his supportive family, that day finally came.

"We always believed he could get better, but it was a difference between believing and reality," said his brother, Jason, an 18-year-old freshman at Assumption College, who ran alongside Maloney this year. "He's been through so much. To see how far he's come, it's unbelievable."

Maloney, his brother Jason, and his 20-year-old sister, Jen, all participated in the Boston Marathon this year along with their father, while the rest of the family cheered them along from Cleveland Circle. All four completed the marathon.

Both Jason and Jen hope to continue the tradition by running again in the future, but they said this year's marathon has been the most meaningful for them.

"It brings us closer together," Jason said. "It's a very special experience to share."

At age 23, Maloney now works as a part-time substitute teacher and gives motivational speeches at local high schools and colleges. He says he hopes he can inspire others to make good decisions, and stresses the importance of perseverance.

"Impossible is nothing," Maloney said. "Don't stop. Don't settle for anything less than 100 percent."