Running in the Rain will cause One to fall Sick?

Last Saturday I woke up to the sound of rain. Awww, we were all ready to go for the weekly weekend run. But since we had to drop off the kid at his camp, we decided to go ahead with a hope that the rain will stop by the time we reach East Coast Park. But the rain didn't stop and got a little bit heavier but it was still a drizzle. Now, I can't remember when was the last time I ran in the rain but I do remember it was lovely and so I was raring to go ahead with the run.

But of course I didn't get to go East Coast Park.  The sidekick didn't want to run in the rain. Like a lot of people, she believe that one will fall sick if one runs in the rain. The belief is that when one runs, the pores on the skin opens up to allow the sweat to come out. So if one runs in the rain, the rain water will get into the body through the open pores and the water will accumulate in the lungs and cause the person to fall sick, catch a cold which will develop into pneumonia! Fact or myth?

So does one really fall sick from running or going out in the rain? Anecdotally many people does. Like in the movies, they get caught in the rain and bingo, next day they develop a cold/fever.

But according to Dr Tan Swee Kheng; writing in the inaugural issue Run Singapore; a cold is caused by a virus and not rain. So unless the virus resides in the rain drop, it is not possible for someone to catch a cold or the flu from the rain. Ditto pneumonia. A quick search on the web also yield more or less the same conclusion. So running in the rain does not cause one to fall sick. Sure but I dare say not a lot of people is going to be convinced by this.

However, whilst running in the rain does not cause one to fall sick, running in the rain can still be bad for the health like
- slipping on the wet ground and getting injured. Running shoes are notoriously bad on smooth tiled pavement like what our gahmen loves to have on our walkway
- being pocked in the eye/head by an auntie carrying an umbrella
- or worse, kena hit by lightning. After all, Singapore has one of the highest rate of lightning activities s in the world

For the record, I did get my run in the rain after all although we started real late at 9am. But by golly, it sure was fun! And no, I didn't fall sick.