Running in the rain

Even though I'm finding out there aren't many trails in the immediate Greenville area (not counting a few short, easy ones), I have been enjoying Paris Mountain State Park. It's a huge, well-maintained, system of trails (both hiking and biking) that are plenty hard enough for me. I've ran/biked most of the trails now, but there are plans of adding 5-7 more miles of biking trails.
There is one trail race (a 7m and 4m loop) that takes place here in October. I've been doing the larger,7-mile loop to train (pink trail on map). Seven miles doesn't seem that long after some of my previous runs, but there's a reason MOUNTAIN is in the name of the park!! The first half of the loop is almost a 45-degree angle up while the second half is the opposite. The loop has both biking and hiking portions (from fast and rolling small hills to not runable). I've been trying to do the loop at least twice a week.
Today was my fastest loop so far (1hr, 12min), but let's say it was 'weather-aided'! As I started my run, it was a little hot to run and the humidity was terrible. I was soaked with sweat almost immediately and figured I would go through my water bottle quickly. Just as I got to the top of the uphill section though, the dark clouds rolled in. As I began my descent, the wind and rain started and the lightning was a little too close for comfort. The second half of the loop is already a fast run (because it's mostly downhill), but the lightning definitely sped me up!
Other than the lightning, it was enjoyable to do half of the loop in the rain. The rain, cloud cover, and wind made for a pleasant run!
Now to best my quick finish time, I guess I'll just have to wait for more bad weather!