Photos by Asia Morris. Full gallery below.

On the cloudy and (thankfully) cool morning of Sunday, October 12, over 26,000 racers hit the pavement to pound out the results of months—and at least a few pairs of running shoes (or bicycle tires)—worth of training and preparation. Runners donned tutus, neon tank tops and lucha libre masks as they courted the hard asphalt of Long Beach’s streets.

While some of us would say you’d have to be a bit crazy to even attempt to run 26.2 miles anywhere, despite Long Beach’s especially scenic route, the road warriors who took to the course Sunday should be an inspiration to us all. One woman, in an effort to help a fellow runner finish the last two miles, caught a man who had stumbled to a walk, saying, “C’mon, you can do this, you’re almost there. Run with me, run with me.” The man proceeded to pick up his gait to the cheers of ecstatic spectators lining the course.

The first place Women’s Marathon finisher was Risper Kimaiyo, with an impressive time of 2:41:56, followed by Lindsay Tollefson in 2nd and Sabina Piras in 3rd Place.

First place for the Men’s Marathon was taken by Sammy Mutai, followed by Will Guzick in 2nd and Oswaldo Hurtado in 3rd Place.

Hilary Corno won the Women’s Half Marathon for the third year in a row with the impressive time of 1:19:35, followed by Marie Schaper in 2nd and Leilani Rios in 3rd Place.

The Men’s Half Marathon was a close race with the winner, Sean Gilda, taking the cake by two seconds for a time of 1:06:23. Juan Parades came in 2nd followed by Daniel Filipick in 3rd Place.

According to Racemine Results,  a total of 16,101 participants finished the marathon.

{gallery}asia/LBMara2014{/gallery}