Marathon Double - Done

My goal this year was to run two marathons in one weekend. This was the weekend and it is done. I ran the Surfside Beach Marathon (south of Galveston) yesterday and the Austin Marathon today. In Texas, there are two 3-marathon series. First is the Texas Marathon Triple (Kingwood in January, Surfside Beach in February and Seabrook in March). Run all three and you get a jacket or some other stuff. I have completed this series for the last two years. The other series is the Marathons of Texas (White Rock in Dallas in December, Houston in January and Austin in February). Surfside Beach and Austin are on the same weekend. So, to complete both series, I had to run two marathons in one weekend. I had not done this before and was not sure what to expect. I appreciate all the advice from friends. One piece of advice was to take it easy on the first marathon. The weather was ideal at Surfside and the beach was in good shape. Basically, you run 13.1 miles up the beach and then back. I ran a slow steady pace and finished in 6:12:52. Then, I made the 4-hour drive to Austin. I felt okay at the start of the race, but was in fear of hitting a wall at some point. Austin is a very hilly course. At about 11 miles or so, I really began to tire. I took some gel and electrolyte capsules and convinced myself that it was more mental than physical. At the halfway point, I was at about 2:50:00, which was about the same as Surfside the day before. That gave me a boost in confidence and I picked it up during the second half. I was tired, but the strength was there. I finished in 5:55:00. I suppose that would be called a negative split for the two races. I picked up my finisher medal for Austin and then a finisher medal for the Marathons of Texas. I get the jacket for that later.