Overheating, temp gauge?

[redciv1]

Ok so finally I was able to run my car for more than 5 minutes at a time, keep that in mind. So I changed my water pump on the H22 Accord and set the balance belt back correctly. I then filled up the radiator and started the car. At this point I'm thinking with a new radiator, thermostat, hoses and water pump that if it is indeed a leak in the head gasket then letting it get hot could not hurt much more. So I started the car and as usual the temp gauge slowly rosed to the H . At this point I'm getting nervous, but as I said earlier there was only one culprit left and that was the head gasket. I shut the car down and then start back up after cooling down a bit. Turned the heater on and both fans running full blast, so I let the car idle. This is the good part. At this point the temp gauge needle is past H but no smoke, no coolant coming from engine. I get out of the car and touch the radiator and radiator cap and cold. Upper and lower hose feel about right temperature. At this point it has to be about 5-7 minutes. Another 5 minutes go by and I rev the engine then hold at 2K and 3K rpm for a few seconds....nothing. Car revs up and then idles back around 700-1000 rpm. At this point I walk around to the back of the car and it is cool outside so a little evap coming from exhaust but at the same time my SRX was idling in garage also and evap coming from exhaust too so no big thing. I let the car sit for another 5 minutes and nothing coming out coolant wise or smoke wise. So basically my car ran about 20 minutes with the temp gauge pegged out past H. Looks like I have a bad temp sensor, but wanted to know if it was possible for a car to overheat and still run for 20 minutes with no erratic idle, noise or anything out of the ordinary? I know it's a dumb question but I have spent many months on this car.