The title is meant to be sung to the tune of "Robin in the rain." Ah, this morning's weather report surprised me with a prediction of shorts weather during the afternoon. So I packed them up along with the rest of my warm-ish weather running gear and tucked it away in my backpack until lunchtime. I waited until my morning snack felt digested and left to change.

As soon as I opened the door to Mackenzie King Bridge outside, I was surprised still to find the weatherman was right-it was indeed not too cold on my thighs. What a treat!My legs had been hibernating under thermals for too long! I passed by my favourite homeless guy, "Red." I call him that in my head because his hat and face are always red. I hadn't seen him throughout my hibernation as I took a different running route when it was warm enough to go outside. I gave him my hello wave as I ran by and down the stairs through the park to the canal.

Then it started sprinkle raining. "Yay!" I thought, because rain runs are my absolute favourite, and in spite of the snow-covered landscape, I knew I'd keep warm even if it poured. On queue, pour it did. It was the big fat rain, as Forrest Gump describes when relating his adventures in Vietnam. I took out my iPod and tucked it in my pocket so it wouldn't get too wet, and this left me to be entertained only by the sounds of rain, my breath and the occasional car.

I participated in one of my favourite running rituals, the "runner's salute." It requires you to raise a hand or at the very least smile and make eye contact with runners as you pass them by. Today's salutes also communicated, via smiles and eyes, what a great day it was for a run. We shared the glory of looking like fools, smiling in the pouring rain as others hid in doorways and under umbrellas. Not us, though we were soaked through and through, we knew it was a positively glorious run day we'd been waiting for through the winter coldness.

Back in the office now, no one knows if my wet hair is a result of shower or the pouring rain. No one is privy to how joyful and giddy my lunchtime was. I hope I'm not grinning like I had lunchtime nookie, but I just might be. If they ran today, they'll know too: Run rains are the best!