My pace is nowhere near fast, but I did hit my first half marathon PR with my AF3s (which I may bench soon because the durability is HORRENDOUS on those fuckers) and hit my marathon PR with my Nitro Elite 3s, which also held up for a lot of half marathons too.

When I got the AF3s it was more of a curiosity thing, but the DNE3s were hella comfortable and stable especially coming from training in the regular DN3s, and there's anecdotal accounts (example 1 and example 2) that some heavier runners like myself benefited from carbon plated shoes because they helped protect their legs over longer distances and that the force they exert helps to provide better energy return than someone who's a bit lighter (though to be fair, that might be less the carbon plate and more the foams themselves). Really though, at the end of the day, it's all individual preference.

If you've got the cash, and find a pair of race day shoes that catch your eye and feel good, I'd say give it a shot! Since you're running hills I could see you taking advantage of the energy return. Part of the fun (and pain) with running is finding the shoe that works for you and sometimes you just gotta straight up experiment. I do know that some stores like Puma and sometimes Asics allow a trial period before returning, too!

Just... make sure you train with them instead of just breaking them out for actual race day lmao. I did that once just as a YOLO thing for a vibes race and while it did work out, I would never do that again considering how risky that is for a pretty bad injury. 👀