Some runners rounded the corner of Hopkins Place and hit the homestretch on Pratt Street with a head of steam. They practically glided across the Baltimore Running Festival finish line Saturday.

Marathon winners Willy Fink and Sara Kenefick were a part of that group. Heck, so was Baltimore Banner reporter Adam Willis, who finished 20th overall in the half-marathon.

But those folks were outliers. Most runners were just trying to get across the finish line, where there were water and fruit and Gatorade and beer on the other side. Depending on their stamina and mental fortitude, they might not even have been running by the time they reached the end. Some people walked across. Others limped. One man, seemingly content to have just gotten near, stopped running and pumped his fist about 100 feet from salvation.

“I feel like I’m dying,” said Mario Ramirez, a Delaware runner, as he finished his first marathon. “It feels awesome.”

That dying feeling is fitting, considering Greek legend holds it that the first person to run a marathon, Pheidippides, was so exhausted at the end of his run he did actually die.

From the seasoned marathoners to the first-timers, the best part of Saturday’s festivities was the end. Take Andrew Brooks Sr., who ran his 208th race and fifth Baltimore Marathon on Saturday. Dripping sweat after more than five hours churning his legs, he said simply: “I finished.” Even for a man who’s run a marathon on every continent, who said he once ran six marathons in six days across six states, finishing is all he could ask for.

Part of the challenge was the race course’s elevation changes — the marathon’s second half wound north through the city’s east side and was mostly uphill until the end.

“Man, y’all’s hills are crazy,” said Ed Peyton who, admittedly, didn’t train like he was supposed to. “I knew it was going to suck.”

Kelsa DeBrabant, a New Yorker trying to run a marathon in all 50 states, said the same.

“I did not know how hilly it was going to be, so that was a test,” she said. Hopefully, her next state is flatter.

Abraham Raum, a burly Pennsylvanian who ran his second Baltimore Marathon, said even more of the same. “Those hills, they add up quick. They add up quick.”

Limping a little, Raum said a third marathon is “TBD.”

And, if you don’t want to take their word for it, take Fink’s. He’s a professional.

“The hills around Mile 18 [were the worst] because you go up a relatively large hill,” he told WBAL 11 News after crossing the finish line. “Then it’s kind of flat, then you go up another large hill.”

There was respite for all involved. The walk from the finish line to the refreshment area was mostly flat.