Running without a thermostat ok?

Through a series of strange happenings with egr, egr cooler, my turbo instantly pumped my cooling system beyond its capabilities and exploded my upper hose. At 80ph it didn't take long for all the bells and whistles to go off. A little duct tape and a few gallons of water and I was home. The repair will go into the hundreds. Just love a failed system or two.