Thomas Peterson and Trevor Wallis of the National Climatic Data Center, writing in the meteorological journal “Weather”, addressed the controversy of walking in the rain versus running. “We decided to deal with this with scientific rigor. We did an experiment,” Peterson was quoted as saying in Health magazine.

The magazine goes on to describe the experiment: “One rainy day the two men donned identical sweat suits and hats, which they’d weighed before the test. For added accuracy, they wore plastic garbage bags underneath the sweat suits to keep their underclothes from wicking away any water. They then set out through the downpour on a 100-meter course. Wallis ran; Peterson walked.

“When they finished, the men weighed their clothes again to find out how much water they’d soaked up. Peterson’s had absorbed about seven and half ounces, while Wallis’s sopped up only four and a half.”

In short, running will keep you drier than walking.

(Source: The Straight Dope)