Naked Bavarian 40mi -- actually at least 41.63, likely a mile or two more. Happily I knew that going in, though.
The not-so-excellent: a very cold 8am start (19F), and even though it got up to 35F, it was quite windy at points (up on hilltops/spurs, in valleys facing certain directions,
crossing bridges). I was considering this training ('cause of the dearth of it in my life these days), and planned to work on pacing. I did a poor job of that, getting sucked along by the crowd, and then chatting with a couple of other runners for 12 miles for the second half of lap one. 5:19 first 50k, even with my wise slowdown after the 1/2. Oops! It was really at least 4k feet of climb, if not more.
The pretty good stuff: dealing with too-hot/too-cold was a good distraction. No real issues other than the way-too-fast first 1/2. A bit of gut and hip aches, but I'm getting good at either ignoring or working through them. I may have broken 7hrs if I'd gone > 3.5 on the first lap. Probably still could have, but it really was training, and I relaxed into the second half and had some fun. About a 1/2 of a (very good) beer with 10 miles to go. Hanging with and chatting with those I was passing. :) Even with the poor start, I was never passed. People really pace poorly, if my poor pacing didn't result in any passes in the 2nd half.
Final result: 21st of 119 starters. I was hoping for < 20th, so not bad. I don't know how far off I was. Only saw (and passed) two others during the last 10 miles. Only
Maggie Guterl (Western States 21:50 last year) beat me from the women, so that's pretty good. I don't know by how much, though. She's pretty amazing!