Actually, there is a good chance guys in the 66-68 min range end up running time trials at a lot of medium-sized half marathons despite what appears to be strong fields up front. Here are some stats for some of the most competitive half marathons in the U.S. over the last year or so:
(Date, Race, Site, # of finishers between 66-67, # of finishers between 67-68)
6/2013 - RnR San Diego - San Diego, CA - 2 - 2
6/2013 - USA HM Champs - Duluth,MN - 20 - 11
7/2013 - RnR Chicago - Chicago, IL - 0 - 1
8/2013 - America's Finest City - San Diego - 1 - 1
9/2013 - RnR Philadelphia - Philadelphia, PA - 8 - 4
10/2013 - BAA Half Marathon - Boston, MA - 0 - 2
10/2013 - RnR San Jose - San Jose, CA - 2 - 2
11/2013 - Monumental - Indianapolis, IN - 0 - 2
11/2013 - RnR Las Vegas - Las Vegas, NV - 3 - 0
11/2013 - Philadelphia HM - Philadelphia, PA - 2 - 2
1/2014 - USA HM Champs - Houston, TX - 4 - 12
2/2014 - Gasparilla - Florida - 0 - 1
3/2014 - RnR Dallas - Dallas, TX - 3 - 2
3/2014 - Shamrock - Virginia Beach, VA - 0 - 2
3/2014 - New Bedford HM - New Bedford, MA - 1 - 4
5/2014 - Indy 500 Mini-Marathon - Indianapolis, IN - 6 - 4
6/2014 - RnR San Diego, San Diego, CA - 4 - 3
6/2014 - Garry Bjorklund Half - Duluth,MN - 6 - 4
7/2014 - RnR Chicago, Chicago, IL - 2 - 1
I know I missed a few others like RnRs, OUC, St. Louis, Chicago Half, etc... But the basic takeaway from these numbers is:
1. A lot of these races have a ton of people up front in the 60-65 range, but a surprisingly little number of guys in the 66-68 range. Races like RnR San Diego, Monumental, Gasparilla, Philadelphia (not the RnR) produce 8-10 guys under 63-64 minutes consistently, but less than a handful of guys in the 66-68 min range at least half the time.
2. A lot of the guys who end up in this range are actually 62-65 min guys who had bad days or are just doing a workout so the number of people an actual 66-68 min guy can run with are even less than shown.
3. There are only 5 races on that list with 10 or more finishers in the 66-68 min range, 2 of which were USA HM races.
So yeah, there ARE other races where guys like me can find people to run with, but not as many as one might think. Half of the time you will show up to a RnR where the times were fairly competitive the year before and completely end up in no man's land. (For example, if a sub-70 guy had shown up in New Orleans this year expecting to find at least a halfway competitive field due to the 2013 one) I am lucky in the sense that I have a fairly established career so I have the financial freedom to travel to a few of these "riskier" races on my own dime and often combine these with a mini-vacation. However, for guys just out of college looking for competitive races and can only travel 1-2 times a year their best bet is usually a USA championship race.