^{Good luck!  Let me know which one you decide.}

PS: I didn't know you were running it.  FE! Finally!!!!

I think that as my experience level increases, my level of planning will decrease.  I think to start running by feel in a HM or longer at this point in my young running career would fall under the catergory of, "failure to plan, is planning to fail".  I like to have a goal pace based on a previous race, and go in with the plan of even splits.  Once I'm at or near the 7 mile mark, I feel comfortable adjusting my pace if necessary.

I've never had a huge negative split, but both of my HM's have been slight negative splits.  I think this is the result of increased fitness between races.  I do tend to "wing" 5K's, and I truly mean "wing it".  I don't have a goal pace, and don't know my pace unless hear someone yell a time out at a mile marker.  I'm comfortable doing that in a shorter race.  When I base a HM pace on a 5K that was 6 weeks ago, I'm probably capable of shaving a few seconds off of that goal pace.

Now, if I had the experience to go by feel from mile 1, then maybe I could put up a slightly better time.  Does that bother me?  Nope.  I've PR'ed every race I've run, and by large margins.  I've taken anywhere from a minute to almost 10 minutes off of almost every race I've run.  See the results in my signature.  So, what are we talking about?  Would an additional minute win me my age group?  No.  Would an 11 minute PR make me that much happier than an almost 10 minute PR?  Probably not.

With only to HM's under my belt, would "winging it" have a higher potential for reward or a higher risk of disaster?  I'd argue that if I'm confident that my plan will result in a huge PR, then the risk of "winging it" outweighs the potential reward.  Does this mean that I'll never run a half completely by feel.  Absolutely not.

At some point, I'll probably be like some of the runners on this forum that are shooting to shave off a few seconds as I approach my potential.  At that point, I'll know more about my runner's body, and how the distance feels.  I'll have to be more aggressive, and take more risks to meet my goals.  Then, it will make more sense IMO, but many of us on this forum are beginners.   I don't think that its a good idea for someone in their first, second or even third HM to decide that the first mile feels slow and pick it up until it feels challenging.

So, I'd recommend having a goal pace.  Know the course.  If you aren't good on hills, be prepared to adjust for that.  I personally seem to be loving hills because I catch a LOT of people.  If you use gels of any kind, make sure you have a plan as to where you want to implement that.  If you think you might make an adjustment, have a plan as to when you want to make that decision.  Know what you want to wear based on the forecast.  Try it out on a similar day in training.  If it's going to be windy, have a drafting strategy.  I'm all for planning when you've had as few races as I've had.  It actually calms my nerves.

Some day, I'm sure I'll wing it at a HM, or marathon, but I'll stick to my guns for runners that haven't had a ton of experience at a distance.  I don't even like the theory that first time marathoners shouldn't have a time goal.  I'm all for time goals.  I want to know what pace I should be running, and I want to stick to it.  If circumstances arise that justify adjusting that pace, that's fine.  Just running at whatever feels good in the moment though seems risky.  It's easy to forget about the other 12 or 25 miles.

That's my $.02.

If it kicks you ass, then no I don't want to do it.  Nope nope nope.

In January and February I did my long runs in the hilly  parts out by my house, and I definitely have seen the improvement and results from it, but it just bugs me that I don't know this hill and they keep saying it's a steady incline from mile 6 to mile 8....... and that is driving me crazy. For me I normally take 3-5 miles just to warm up (normally, though that hasn't been the case for 2 weeks now) and get into my stride. I will definitely try to keep some sort of plan or goal pace to stick to, but I can only promise to stick around it within a 30 second range.

This is my goal time and pace that I hope to stick to:

http://tazrunning.com/marathon-map-mo-st.louis2.nsf/0/FA6E8F95F4CA5FDE85257B37007CA312?OpenDocument

I keep looking for something that will actually tell me the elevation gain and stuff, but nothing. I have seen at least 2 videos one of the race in 6 minutes and a 1 minute video talking about the hill and it doesn't look big but it doesn't look  like 2 miles or whatever... I am trying not to think about  it.

Are you talking to me D, or someone else?

The link you gave has an elevation chart, so you can get a estimate of the grade from that. Miles 6-8 seem to be 1-2%.

The elevation profile is all the way at the bottom. Definitely  one of those charts where they exaggerate the y axis so you can see any variation. If you're used to 0 elevation change, you'll notice the variation. If you're used to hilly terrain, it might slow you slightly, but you may wonder where the hill is - fairly gradual.

Are we talking about the elevation charts on the link I gave, sorry I am sleep deprived, lost, hungry and distracted. 

An half marathon with the largest hill being a 100 foot climb? I would kill for that!LOL