Is it unethical to start near the front of a race?

Here is a question for anyone who is not an elite runner:

Do you believe that it is unethical to start near the front of a race, if you know that you will not complete the race at the pace designated for that portion of the racers?

I ask this question as a follow-up to the topic about which I blogged yesterday.

When I registered for the San Antonio Marathon, I told the organizers that I hoped to complete it in five hours (5:00:00).

They in turn put me in what they called “corral 31” this past Sunday.

In other words, the organizers put me with other racers who must have hoped for and indicated a similar finishing time for the marathon or a 2.5-hour (2:30:00) finishing time for the half marathon — given that marathoners and half-marathoners were mixed together in each corral.

Being in corral 31 meant that I was in the 31st group of people to be allowed to cross the starting line.

The elite runners — both marathoners and half marathoners — were in corral 1 for the simultaneous start of the marathon and half marathon.

And each corral was allowed to start a minute or two after the lower-numbered corral ahead of it.

So we in corral 31 crossed the starting line some forty minutes after the start-of-race gun was fired to release those runners in corral 1.

This meant that I started with runners who could average something like an 11:27 pace.

As I explained yesterday, I let this throw me off of my original plan, which was to use the 1:1 method with running at a 9:40/mile pace and with walking at a 14:00/mile pace.

Given that a 9:40/mile pace is equivalent to a 4:13:27 marathon for someone who runs it constantly, I now believe that I should have told the organizers that I hoped to complete the marathon in less than four hours and fifteen minutes.

Then they would have put me in a lower-numbered (faster-paced) corral, and I could have started my running with others running around me at approximately the same pace of 9:40/mile.

After the first minute, I would have dropped to my 14:00/mile walking pace for a minute before repeating the cycle of running at 9:40/mile for a minute and walking at 14:00/mile for the alternate minute.

Eventually the racers in the corral behind me would have overtaken me.

But at least I would have started the marathon at my desired running pace.

How do you feel about the ethics of starting with a group of racers with whom you know that you cannot finish? Especially if you understand and use micro-level pacing in your races, then does this make sense to you? Please share your thoughts by leaving a comment here. Thanks!