With no POT at Wine and Dine I was positioned in Corral H even though I'm about a 9:00/mi pace. I missed the cutoff by a couple of weeks on a 10-mile race. In Houston we don't have to many long races over the summer. I was solo so by blind luck of heading to the bag check/porta potty as soon as getting off the bus I was in the corral about 20 minutes before start ready to go and got fairly close to the front.
Within 50 yards of the starting line I was in the clear with nothing in front of me and right on my pace....then it happened. I just hit a wall of humanity before even getting to mile 1, people 5-6 wide already WALKING. I think Galloway's run walk method is fantastic, I started training with that and just got my pace too fast to stay with it so I am for it. I'm not sure what plan has you walking at less than a mile though.
Plus, if you want to walk that early, don't stand 5-6 wide. I think if you plan to walk THAT MUCH, you should start in the back. I feel like that people run a 5k to get as far up as possible to walk an even slower pace then 16:00/mi so as to not get swept. Apologies if this was you, just a little frustrating. I really wanted to get under 2 hours for my first half marathon and I ran 2:03 because my first few miles were weaving and dodging people with a pace over 9:40. It took till mile 7 to get on a decent pace. I was quite proud of running 9:47 on my first mile and 8:13 on my last and I do wonder if the slower pace helped me achieve that but I was disappointed to encounter walls of walkers so early and so many not standing to the right.
Sorry for venting, but this group is probably the only people that can understand that frustration.