Marathon runner doesn't let deer stop him

AUSTIN, Texas, Feb. 21 (UPI) -- A Texas dentist finished a marathon in spite of being knocked down by a frightened deer near the start of the 26.2-mile race.

Matt Tillinghast told the Dallas Morning News that it took him about three miles to work out the kinks from his encounter. Fellow runners kept asking him if he was all right until mile 10.

The deer, apparently disoriented, leaped over a pack of runners in the Freescale Austin Marathon on Sunday and hit Tillinghast's left side when he was about 200 yards from the starting line. The impact of 90 pounds of venison brought him to his knees and he and the deer went down together. A few seconds later both recovered enough to leave the scene, the deer heading into the woods and Tillinghast resuming the race.

"It so shocked me and disoriented me and I was hurting," Tillinghast said. "I was nauseous and kept having to stop. All that big mass of deer hit me. For two miles I was a little disoriented. I picked it back up at mile 3."

Tillinghast plans to keep on running. In fact, he has his T-shirt planned for next year -- "Watch out for flying deer."