HOKA Carbon X-SPE Review | Race Test | Marathon PB! | Holly Challenge Marathon

Running Shoe Review and running the Holly Challenge Marathon to test them out!

Today I unbox the new HOKA Carbon X-SPE road running/race shoes and run through a quick review before going in at the deep end and running a marathon in them!

The Hoka Carbon X SPE is an all gender shoe and is positioned as an endurance racer. The shoe is light at only 250g and with a 5mm heel to toe drop is a perfect match for what im looking for, however this is a neutral running shoe and I usually require a shoe with much more stability control due to my over pronation. The lack of stability in the shoe worried me a little but I found that it was not a problem on my run at all. You will see that I love these shoes, as they are light and fast but being used to more cushioning means that the Carbon X will take a while to get used to.

Durability and wear rate. I have heard rumours that race shoes and these fancy carbon plated shoes wear out quickly, but the soles show no real signs of wear after todays marathon which is encouraging and hopefully I can get more miles out of them than the 200-250 that im anticipating.

The Holly Challenge Marathon is a fantastic event from How Hard Can it Be Events. It starts in Coalport on the edge of the River Severn, and runs up the Silkin Way and then into Ironbridge, you complete three laps for the Marathon and two slightly shorter laps for the Half Marathon.

I managed to achieve a new personal best (PB) or Personal Record (PR) for our American friends ;).

Matthews GPS Watch | Garmin Fenix 5+ | https://amzn.to/3ief4bf
Lauras GPS Watch | Garmin Vivoactive 3 | https://amzn.to/2K4d7kN
Childrens GPS Watches | Garmin Vivosport | https://amzn.to/3i6CZcj
Matthews Jacket | OMM Kamleika | https://amzn.to/39n8UkY
Matthews Running Pack | Salomon Adv Skin 12 | https://amzn.to/3nwCTvS
Lauras Running Pack | Salomon Adv Skin 8 Womens | https://amzn.to/39oeXFF
GoPro Hero 8 Black | https://amzn.to/38vOuqH