Photo by Lance Cpl. Lucas G. Lowe Running 26.2 miles miles might sound difficult, but this participant uses a hand-cranked bike to get to the finish line.

U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. John Mentzer, an engineering duty officer, ran with more than 20,000 other runners for 26.2 miles and took first place at the 34th annual Marine Corps Marathon. The 33-year-old from Portsmouth, N.H., won with the time of 2 hours, 21 minutes and 46 seconds.

The women’s top place finisher was Muliye Gurmu, a 25-year-old from Ethiopia. Her finish time was 2:49:48.

For both runners the race proved to be easier than they expected.

‘‘I felt really good the first few miles,” said Mentzer, who won the first out of the five marathons he’s run. ‘‘I didn’t think I was going to feel that good because there are a lot of tight turns and a lot of hills. The last 10k was tough — it was probablythe toughest of any marathon I’ve done. But I was still able to pull away by agood margin.”

‘‘It was easy,” said Gurmu, through her translator and coach, Sue Bozgoz. ‘‘I was coasting. I let the other girl have the lead and I was following her. I let her do all the work. I broke by her the last mile and I sprinted.”

Talking about his overall race experience, Mentzer said,‘‘I probably pushed the pace a little early, but I felt good. I was all by myself. I got into a good rhythm. I pushed forward and I tried to be more aggressive in this marathon. I was hoping to win it, but I had to be smart.”

Toward the end, Mentzer had to use his mental strength to conquer hisphysical fatigue.

‘‘Around mile 23 my legs were tightening up,” Mentzer said. ‘‘I was trying to stay focused and keep my rhythm going. Even a one-minute lead with three miles left can disappear quickly so I kept charging ahead.”

Mentzer sees a clear difference in the Marine Corps Marathon compared to other races in which he’s competed.

‘‘It’s good because these runners have full-time jobs and they take time out of their day to run,” Mentzer said. ‘‘People aren’t out here for the money. They are just out here to have fun.

‘‘Also, it’s great to race against active-duty service members,” Mentzer said. ‘‘You don’t always see the same guys racing with you because they are deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan. It’s great to come out here and build that camaraderie.”

While the temperature lent itself to great racing, the weather was one of the biggest obstacles for the racers.

‘‘The wind was all over the place,” Mentzer said. ‘‘At times it was in your face and other times it was at your back. It was coming from all directions.”

But even with the wind blowing, thousands of people bore the 26.2 miles and crossed the finish line exhausted and dehydrated, but they had wide smiles ontheir faces.