Well, it was great fun as usual.  I tell my running partners it's a life affirming experience, but somehow it just sounds corny.  I've never started a race like this at such a slow pace, and I've never finished a race like this at such a fast pace.  At least not within the past 25 years or so.  Being a little light on prep work, I took it out real easy, got stuck in a single track train with many other runners which forced me to go even slower than had planned for the first hour or so.  It ended up just fine though, and probably helped me becuase I felt great the whole way and ran my fastest miles from 40 to 50K.  I did a little biff at 29 miles which made me think I better not press my luck too much but I did hammer it home and that always feels good.  My time was 4h30m and change which is about 15 minutes faster than last time so I'm calling it a success.  After I soaked in the river for a bit I drove straight to Cafe Yumm for lunch, then home for a nap.