Virginia Woman Hit By Flying Deer (Santa And His Sleigh Were Nowhere In Sight)

ALTRINCHAM, UNITED KINGDOM - OCTOBER 24: A stag deer forages amongst the autumnal bracken at the National Trust's Dunham Massey park on October 24, 2013 in Altrincham, United Kingdom. The mild weather in the United Kingdom has delayed Autumn by up to two weeks according to statistics by The Woodland Trust. As cooler temperatures arrive the UK is beginning to glow with Autumn colours. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images) (2013 Getty Images)

Krystine Rivera (Facebook)

It’s a bird.

It’s a plane.

No, Krystine Rivera found out, it was a deer.

Rivera got struck by – wait for it – a flying deer during what had been an otherwise routine long run to bust stress last Thursday.

The deer, it seems, was struck by an SUV, and went airborne – without a sleigh or Santa – before it smacked into Rivera.

The 27-year-old Virginia woman said she remembers running then all of a sudden finding herself in an ambulance with deer blood on her.

“That’s when I knew a deer was part of this,” Rivera said, according to The Washington Post. “I was running, then I was on the ground and then was listening to the paramedic. I’m surprised I made it out alive.”

The buck was fatally injured.

The driver of the SUV was treated at an area hospital and released.

Rivera was taken to the same hospital and released Thursday evening. She got a concussion, and some cuts and bruises, said the Post.

“My whole right side hurts.”

When she tells the story about that odd twist of fate, Rivera imagines it will go like this: “I was out for a run one day . . . No, actually I probably have to start with, ‘This really strange thing happened to me once.’”