Tuesday, we started running the 31-mile Art Loeb Trail in the Pisgah National Forest with Mike Walsh, Charles West and Mike Day. Today, we finish the run.

Charles West and Mike Walsh were a good half hour into telling me about their 11 hour and 10 minute, 31-mile run on the rugged Art Loeb Trail before they mentioned the rain. They were 10 miles into their trail tale, coming into Ivestor Gap when the topic surfaced.

Rain? I inquired.

“From about hour 4 until hour 9,” West said. “It was a downpour on the balds.”

Walsh: “It was like needles slamming into us. … At Balsam Gap the water was over our ankles. It was a raging stream.”

West: “It was great.”

A not surprising assessment, in retrospect, considering the mental makeup for these ultra trail runners. The pair, who did the September 11 run with Mike Day, were using the run as a trainer for a couple of upcoming fall 50-mile trail runs. This “training run” that was, again, 31 miles long, took 11 hours and 10 minutes and covered ground in the mountainous Pisgah National Forest ranging from 2,200 feet to more than 6,200 feet in elevation. In all, there was more than 17,000 feet of up and down. So what’s five hours of acupuncturesque rain?

Part of what took the sting out that piercing rain: Their awaiting support crew bearing gifts of Bugels and corn chips, a welcome relief from the Gu and power bars that had been sustaining the three thus far. Because of the Art Loeb’s largely remote, rugged location, its passage over the Blue Ridge Parkway was the lone opportunity to benefit from their support, their last opportunity for “real” food.

If you study the Art Loeb’s elevation profile, you’d be inclined to think that the boys’ run was pretty much downhill after topping out on 6,214-foot Black Balsam Knob. By-and-large, that’s true: While there’s still some up-and-down over the remaining 21 miles, the elevation drops gradually from over 6,200 feet to 2,200 feet. But here’s the dirty little secret of elevation: In hiking, in backpacking, in running, elevation “gain” — the amount of total climbing — gets all the ink. In fact, those downhills can be just as grueling; “quad-shredding” is how Walsh puts it. And as West and the Mikes crossed the Blue Ridge Parkway, they headed into a steady 8 miles of quad-shredding fun as the Blue Ridge escarpment drops precipitously into the Davidson River basin.

At one point, West recalls negotiating a particularly narrow, rain-slick section of trail and glancing off to the side of the trail: “I was looking 50 feet up a tree.” West excelled on the downhills, Walsh on the climbs. Both describe Day as “a metronome” — steady up, steady down. Thus, there was a degree of “accordioning” between the runners. Still, says Walsh, “We were as closely matched as any three runners I’ve run with.”

On they ran, onward and downward, in a rain that continued until Chestnut Gap. Walsh focused on keeping his legs from seizing on the downhills, West kept an eye his heart rate (an alarm on his heart rate monitor would go off if he topped 160 beats per minute), mainly to ensure he was running efficiently. All paid close attention to the trail’s tread, booby-trapped with rocks, tree roots and other obstacles just waiting to end their run. “One good fall and that’s it,” said Walsh.

Around hour 8, West noticed his blood sugar dropping. West says it’s not unusual for him to do as many as three power gels per hour on an endurance run (the packets recommend one every 45 minutes), but running low on water, he’d cut back. (As the gel packets also advise, it’s smart to chase a gel with a swig of water; otherwise, after a while the sugar build-up can wreck havoc on even the most stout constitution.) Most endurance athletes will tell you they can only do gels for so long; after that — Snickers, Twinkees, Little Debbie cream-filled oatmeal cookies, whatever delivers an infusion of sugar. West was running low on water because once past the Blue Ridge Parkway, the remaining 20-plus miles of the Art Loeb are devoid of water, even from sources that need to be treated.

With West bordering on stupid (he couldn’t figure out how to work his hydration tube), the veteran Day offered some day-saving advice: “Consume as much sugar as you can over the next hour.” West soon emerge from the fog and the remaining four miles or so to the finish at the Davidson River Campground was uneventful. There, Walsh indulged in celebratory meal of Mountain Dew and a Moon Pie.

So, any advice for others who want to run the 31-mile Art Loeb?

• From Tuesday’s first installment, we learned from West that eye wear is advisable to protect you from combative, low-lying branches.
• Don’t attempt such a stunt (their word) with any fewer than three people. “That way,” explains West, “two can carry out the third if there’s a problem.”
• Especially at this time of year, wear fluorescent orange. Not as a fashion statement but to keep from being mistaken for a deer (hunting is allowed along the Art Loeb).
• Take plenty of water. Walsh, for instance, had two hand-held water bottles and water in a fuel belt. Still …
• Stash water along the way. No matter how much water you start with on an epic run, it will not be enough. Even if you have water treatment tablets or a filter, there are very few sources of water along the Art Loeb. Stash water along the way.
• Do the math. Literally, advises West. West, a financial planner, knew his blood sugar was an issue when he couldn’t solve basic math problems in his head. “I couldn’t even come up with basic math problems to try and solve.”
• Invoke the wisdom of Kenny Rogers and know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em. Despite his various ultra successes, West says he’s not into suffering, not into harming his body.  “I have no problem with quitting,” says West, who got into running in the first place to better his health (he’s lost 60 pounds since he started running four years ago).

“There’s plenty of quit in me.”

Photo: Charles West takes in the scenery during a short break on his 31-mile trail run.