BOSTON — When the digital clocks along Boylston Street flashed 2:49 on Marathon Monday, nothing out of the ordinary happened. And that was reason for joyous celebration.

At that moment last year, the first of two bombs exploded near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, killing three spectators and wounding more than 260 people. At that same moment this year, as the city held its collective breath for a moment of silence, runners crossed the line without incident. That feat sent up a Super Bowl’s worth of cheers from throngs of spectators, who clapped, hooted and rang cowbells under the warm afternoon sun.

“They got their city back!” said Kay Weir, 50, a runner from San Diego, who was one of several people crossing the finish line at that moment. “I’m stoked,” she said, despite having just run 26.2 miles, the first mile of which she spent in tears remembering the events of last year.

Monday was the day that Boston reclaimed the finish line, converting a symbolic wound on the city’s psyche back to its utilitarian function as the end point of one of the world’s oldest and most prestigious road races. Of course, it will always be the scene of last year’s crime. But the footfalls of thousands of runners on Monday pounded down its symbolic significance.