This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

Runners pass under the Golden Gate Bridge during San Francisco Marathon.

Tine Maria Caballero pauses from running to be photographed with the Golden Gate Bridge at North Vista Point during the San Francisco Marathon.

More than 24,000 runners sped, trotted and walked past some of San Francisco’s most celebrated structures and vistas Sunday — the Golden Gate Bridge, Fisherman’s Wharf, Crissy Field among them — as they celebrated the return of the San Francisco Marathon without pandemic restrictions.

As was typical for a San Francisco summer, the fog hung thickly over the city, and most attendees were layered up in beanies, gloves and fleece jackets as the first wave of runners began their 26.2-mile journey at 5:30 a.m.

When runners began to cross the finish line around 8 a.m., many became visibly emotional, some collapsing on the ground needing to catch their breath, and others falling into a loved one’s arms crying tears of joy.

Tyler Neumann, 36, has completed a total of 11 marathons, including running the San Francisco Marathon twice. He ran his first race in 2013, a year after he quit smoking while living in France. Neumann said running became a new, healthier addiction after smoking and also gave him the opportunity to travel the world to attend races in various cities.

A runner holds a U.S. flag while wearing a powdered wig as he crosses the Golden Gate Bridge during the San Francisco Marathon.

“It all started with just wanting to do it for myself to replace a really bad habit that I had,” Neumann said. “I realized how good I was feeling to just know I could run that far every time I finished a race.”

Neumann completed Sunday’s race in just over 4½ hours. When he started racing nearly 10 years ago, he said he obsessed over getting the fastest time, but now it is more about the personal accomplishment of finishing the race.

“I think it’s made me more resilient in general since I apply the same type of approach I use with marathon training to anything else I do in life,” Neumann said. “They always say ‘it’s a marathon, not a sprint,’ and now I use that in my professional and personal life as well.”

This was the first in-person full and half marathon in the city since the onset of the pandemic over two years ago. Last year’s race limited the number of runners and imposed a number of masking requirements for runners, staff and volunteers. There were a number of new competitive offerings this year, including California’s first-ever nonbinary category, which Bay to Breakers also recognized in May.

Awards were given to the top three runners in the women’s, men’s and nonbinary categories. The men’s top finisher, with a time of 2:31:42, was Simon Ricci, who clinched the lead after saving his stamina for the second half of the race, surpassing a handful of runners who paced out in front for most of the course.

Eventual winner Simon Ricci runs off the Golden Gate Bridge during San Francisco Marathon.

Brooke Starn, a graduate of UC Davis, won the women’s category with a time of 2:44:38.

Making history in the nonbinary category was Cal Calamia, who finished in three hours and three seconds. They also won first in the nonbinary category at Bay to Breakers.

But having the top time isn’t the driving force behind all runners who sign up for marathons.

Jaymie Pizarro rediscovered her purpose and passion in life by finding the world of marathon running in 2006. Before she started running at the age of 30 she said she had never been much of an athlete. But when Pizarro felt her identity disappearing under the demands of motherhood and her marriage, she said running gave her new life.

“I was a young mom who didn’t really have much of an identity and I didn’t have my own goals, so what running really did for me is it let me set my own goals in life,” said Pizarro, 46, who traveled from Vancouver to run the San Francisco Marathon on Sunday, her 20th long-distance race. She crossed the finish line with her boyfriend at around five hours.

Pizarro said she found meditation through running, and that it became a time for her to think about what she wanted in life as well as rediscover who she was.

With the Golden Gate Bridge behind him, Joel Baez (green rain poncho) joins other runners racing around the North Vista Point during San Francisco Marathon.

Once she became addicted to the high and clarity she received from completing a long run, she said she wanted to spread that joy with others across the world. Pizarro was inspired to organize a marathon in her hometown in the Philippines in 2010, hoping to show others the powerful effects running can have on their lives.

“Finishing a marathon will allow you to believe you can achieve the impossible, and when you do it, you know anything you set your mind to, you can achieve,” Pizarro said. “I want people from all over the world to experience the magic of a marathon as well.”

Alexandria Bordas (she/they) is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: alexandria.bordas@sfchronicle.com

Alexandria Bordas is a reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle. She has previously worked for the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, the Asheville Citizen-Times and the Miami Herald. She graduated from California State University-Fullerton with a bachelor's degree in communications and international politics. In 2017, she earned a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University.