Boston Marathon winners Rita Jeptoo (left) of Kenya and Lelisa Desisa of Ethiopia donned their wreaths and held the championship trophy.

Photographers crowded the champions as they displayed the trophy.

Desisa broke the tape and took the men’s title at today’s Boston Marathon.

Desisa’s exhaustion was apparent after he finished the race.

Jeptoo celebrated as she crossed the finish line, earning her second Boston Marathon title.

Jeptoo kissed the Boylston Street asphalt after clinching her victory.

Marblehead native Shalane Flanagan crossed the finish line fourth in her first Boston Marathon, and she received a raucous reception as she neared the finish.

Another angle of Flanagan crossing the finish line.

After the finish, Flanagan didn’t hide her disappointment.

What initially was a trickle of runners soon became a flood, and Boylston Street experienced rush hour-like congestion.

After finishing the race, thousands were in search of one thing: water.

Competitors passed under the Boston Marathon banner at the finish line.

A runner is helped into a wheelchair at the marathon's finish line.

Runner Lauren Goodman, of Boston, is helped over the finish line.

A runner was assisted by BAA officials after crossing the Copley Square finish line.

Lelisa Desisa is shown after taking the lead, in the race's waning moments.

Women cheered on runners as they traveled through Cleveland Circle.

Service members walked through Cleveland Circle, along the marathon route, as a runner went by.

Chris Mullen of Waltham found a unique way to inspire the runners on Chestnut Hill Ave during the Boston Marathon.

Runners on Chestnut Hill Avenue made their way toward Cleveland Circle after completing Heartbreak Hill.

Moments before, those runners passed by this water station on Commonwealth Avenue, now littered wtih empty cups.

A runner cooled off with water from the Commonwealth Avenue water station.

American runner Jason Hartmann climbed Heartbreak Hill. Hartmann finished in fourth, the highest finish for an American male.

Ana Dulce Felix, then leading the women’s race, looked over her shoulder to see no runners in sight as she climbed Heartbreak Hill in Newton. The lead pack soon caught up.

Other top women’s competitors made their way up Heartbreak Hill.

Jack Markley, 9, of Marshfield, drew encouragement in chalk for his mother, Cameron, before runners arrived at Heartbreak Hill.

The elite men’s runners, including Levy Matebo (fourth from left) and Markos Geneti (front right), run through Wellesley.

Top male runners passed Wellesley College.

Wellesley College students held various signs as runners made their way past the campus.

A runner gave high-fives to the Wellesley students.

Runner Robson Souto (right), of Brazil, stopped to receive a kiss from Laura Cabral, a Wellesley College student from Chicago, while passing through Wellesley.

Tatyana McFadden crossed the finish line to take the women’s wheelchair championship.

Men’s wheelchair winner Hiroyuki Yamamoto, of Japan, took the men's wheelchair title.

Yamamoto was emotional after the champions’ wreath was placed on his head.

Top women's runner Yolanda Caballero, of Colombia, ran down Route 135 in Wellesley, passing Wellesley College.

Elite female marathoners, including Marblehead native Shalane Flanagan (third from right), passed through Wellesley.

Dick Hoyt (center left) pushed his son Rick through Wellesley.

Men's wheelchair competitor Hiroyuki Yamamoto passed by Wellesley College.

Eventual winner Lelisa Desisa (center) held a short-lived lead as runners crossed the 8-mile mark in Natick.

The first wave of non-elite runners crosses the Hopkinton start line.

Runners take off from the starting line.

The elite men's division of the Boston Marathon took off at 10 a.m.

Elite women runners are off and running at the Boston Marathon.

Jacqueline Benson fired the starting pistol for the elite women’s start.

Defending champion Joshua Cassidy of Canada (fifth from right), starts the wheelchair division of the 117th Boston Marathon.

A look at the bridge over the finish line on Boylston Street.

More than 200 signs, a result of a Facebook campaign, stood near Wellesley College.

Army Staff Sgt. Mark Welch (right), of Taunton, and Spc. Jorge Pacheco, of New Bedford, walked along the marathon route in Wellesley before the race.

This Hopkinton house next to the Athletes Village displayed signs of support for the competitors.

Kristina Morrocco wrote a message on Emily Clark's shirt while the Boston College students passed the time before the race.

Yoshi Naruse of Rochester Hills, Mich., was about to run his third Boston Marathon dressed from head to toe as a monkey.

A competitor in Athletes Village in Hopkinton relaxed before the start.

Runner Erica Namba of Berkeley, Calif., studied for her college chemistry exam while waiting for the start.

Runners gathered at the Athletes Village prior to the start of the race.

Tracy Ellsworth of Lynnfield applied a blister pad at the Masonic Hall in downtown Hopkinton before the race.

A view of the start line in Hopkinton.

Bob Giese of Concord, who planned to run the race as a bandit, stretched his calves.

Members of the motorcycle unite of the Transit police waited at the starting line in Hopkinton.

Inspirational competitors Dick Hoyt (left) and his son, Rick, wait by their statue at the starting line in Hopkinton.

Volunteer Kelbi Magnuson, 17, tried to stay warm while awaiting the start in Hopkinton.

David Chapin Jr., 26, of Natick, had his father apply a heating pad to his back at the start line.

A pair of running shoes, a banana, and a bottle of water were left on a blanket near the starting line in Hopkinton.

Thousands of runners waited on Boston Common to board buses to Hopkinton.

Boston.com's Steve Silva was among the first on the scene in Hopkinton.