Neither ice, nor sleet, nor a dashing deer could keep runners out of the Freescale Marathon Sunday.

	Runners take their mark.

Thousands braved the icy roads to race from Williamson County to Auditorium Shores. The gun sounded a half hour later than originally scheduled, as organizers tried to accommodate runners who got held up in weather-related traffic.

"This is our first time to Austin. Didn't expect two hour drive for six miles," spectator Kathleen Bell said.

Bell didn’t get to see her son or niece take off. She parked the car while they ran to make the start.

Organizers blamed the weather on the traffic delays, but said runners were advised to allow plenty of time.

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	More than the miles Discovers distance wasn't the only thing that got in the way to the finish line of the Freescale Marathon.

Traffic and the frigid temperatures weren't the only obstacle. A confused doe made a daring leap into a sea of runners near the start line.

The deer hit Matt Tillinghast, 45, knocking him to the ground. Tillinghast, a dentist from Dallas, got up and kept going. Despite some nausea for the first two miles, he finished in 4:24.

Tillinghast said besides having "a goose egg" on his ankle, he felt fine after his surreal marathon experience.

The overall winner of the race was Mindi Pukstas, a 27-year-old Lithuanian, who crossed the finish line with a time of 2:13:43. Abebe Yimer of Ethiopia finished nine seconds later.

The first woman across the finish line was Tatyana Pozdnyakova of Ukranie with a time of 2:34:23. According to the results posted on the Freescale Marathon Website, Pozdnyakova is 50 years old. She beat the next women in by more than two and a half minutes.