half marathon on rest week

good if you do not try to race it. bad if you try to race it. You do not want to wear yourself out on a rest week. I would do the race and not overly push yourself too hard. You do not have to go slower than normal but I would just go as fast as you can without pushing yourself to the limit.

You elites you are all the same, "go for it, just do it" why do I bother to ask

You haven't provided enough information to give you a good answer, such as your fitness level, what you are training for, or when.

There is nothing necessarily wrong with doing a half mary when your training plan calls for a rest week. You really have to look at in in the context of what your goals are for the next few months.

Racing a half mary if you have an important race scheduled soon probably wouldn't be a great idea. On the other hand, if your next big race is still a ways off, and your adequately trained for the half (which would seem to be a question based on what you have logged for 2007), I don't see an issue in racing it. Just realize that you will need to build some recovery time into your schedule post half.

if by elite you mean super slow then your right I am elite. from the sounds of your post you been doing alot of training. Its far enough away it should not effect your bigger race.

even if you do not go all out to the point of collapse at the end you will have an idea of how your finishing time is. if you are doing a mary and want to finish it in 4:00 and you do the half mary in 1:45 and feel strong you know your on the right course. even feeling strong at 2:00 you know you are in good shape. Now if you struggle and barely finish it in 2:00 then the 4:00 mary might not work but it all depends on how much time is left and other condisions of the day.

nahhh just joshing on the elite comment- I have about 10 weeks under my belt and the last long slow run was about an 11 in 1:37 ( I have a 1hr 45 min run this Sat so that will be a good gauge)
I think I will probably try for a 1:45 -1:47 range - if by mile 11 I am at or under 1:30 and I feel up to it I may try shooting for a 1:44 .
but I will probably rest the day before and do a light bike the day after - thanks for the input