Women - what safety precautions do you take?

So many suggestions from (presumably) men: don't run with headphones, get a hand-held siren, run with friends, don't run on trails, don't run where there are cars, wear a bun instead of a ponytail, don't run early in morning/late at night, wear less provocative clothing, etc.

What about this though: Men - be better. Just don't hurt us. Stop cat-calling us. Don't kidnap us. Don't kill us. Why is that never the firs recommendation?

The population who is going to attack female runners and male letsrunners has very little crossover. Why don't you go give that advice to the drugged out homeless, gang bangers, etc.

I work in International Venture Capital. When solo I'm always in tights and sun glasses. No head phones. No twilight runs. No night runs. Japan is the only place I run in shorts, run in a tank top, run showing skin at any time of the day or night, solo or not. Absolutely never in the US, Europe, other places.

I dare say lots of male letsrunners have "cat-called" female runners. However, the cat-callers are merely annoying, not dangerous. In my youth we had a saying, "sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me".

Lol. Malevolence exists in the world. Ignore this truth at your own peril.

you've been told countless times to stop being a idiot, yet that hasn't stopped you from being an idiot. So rub the two brain cells in your hollow ass head together and tell me what makes you think a violent person is going to stop being violent just because we tell them to stop being violent?

Unfortunately also full of the usual patronising tropes from some male posters.

- trying to tell us we are lying when reporting our exieriencs

- making out we are stuoid/misguided when we tell them what safety precautions work for us. You know, what with us having a life's experience of avoiding danger as a woman, and them having none.

- Diminishing or denigrating our comments

There are a couple of good examples of men in thus thread to avoid. It's not only down and outs who attack women. It's also so called "respectable men".

Being able to recognise these types and either avoid them or use aggression to deter them from viewing you as an easy victim is a great safety mechanism. Predators generally want easy, compliant victims if they are picking on random targets. If you study this thread closely, you will see that certain posters are trying a bit too hard to disagree with women and saying they know better. Why would they do that? This type of man hates and despises women, and tells lies to suit their own narrative.

Quite easy to see once you get good at it, and especially if you a woman. They rely on women being timid and obedient, and get angry or annoyed online when we don't follow their idea about what a compliant woman should be like.

Most women homicide victims are actually killed by men they know, which is why it's important to cut men displaying these angry behaviours out of your social or personal life and never trust what they say.

Men: behave better. I have explained multiple times why I don't want to wear hi-viz, I want to be able to avoid or get away safely if necessary, but still these men ignore the word "no" and are pushing the hi-viz agenda, without having any knowledge of the running environment involved. Which did obvious reasons, I am not going to detail here.

No means no. If you can't even respect that in an Internet discussion, you are not trustworthy for any woman to be around in private.

I bought this for my wife to put on her keychain. It is painfully loud when you pull the pan and it can be heard from at least 100 m away. I tested it. I bought it on Amazon and got two for $10.

Open image

pull the *pin*

It looks like it could be turned off by pushing one of those two buttons. It can't. The only way to get it to stop warbling is to replace the pin attached to that shoestring-looking loop back into it's slot. So in an emergency, you pull the pin and drop the pin.

It's called the Taiker Personal Alarm for Women 140DB Emergency Self-Defense Security Alarm Keychain with LED Light for Women Kids and Elders-2 Pack

I'm not saying this is the perfect defense or the best defense. I'm saying this is better than nothing, which is what 99% of women are carrying.

Many people are running with their phones, but a phone provides a false sense of security.

One of the first things bad guys do in a purse robbery or an abduction is they throw away your phone because they know it can be tracked. Even if you call 911, the response is going to be minutes away.

I run with a phone in case I break a leg or come across someone else in distress, but I have no delusions that a 911 call could respond in time to do anything.

back into *its* slot

Hmm, is that a guess or how would you know? I doubt LR males are any more virtuous generally but would think they would be be nicer than average to fellow runners.

Yes, it's just a guess. I never said LR males are any worse than males in general, and one would hope they are less likely to harass a female runner than males in general. However, the large number of misogynistic posts on this site doesn't give me much confidence. In any case, as long as they stick to purely verbal abuse, I don't care.

I didn't like any of the advertised concealed carry methods for runners so decided to "invent" a better carry holster. After a few failed attempts, I came up with this.

I don't plan to start carrying when I run, but some runners might like to know how to make a comfortable, practical carry holster. This method could also be used for energy gels, pepper spray, etc.)

Here's what finally worked for me.

Start with a waist phone/water belt with those two small water bottles on each side. Get a soft case gun pouch that will hold a micro 380. (Look on Amazon). I used one with a velcro top flap instead of a zipper so the gun could be accessed with one hand.

Fasten the pouch into the water bottle slot. (I used couple of thick rubber bands to test the concept.)

Then I put my phone in the phone slot. (I added a 7oz water bottle on the other side for balance. It worked great.)

I stopped to talk to a couple of runners and no one noticed it. The pouch is so innocuous on a running belt it just looks like part of the belt.

This solved all the problems except one. When I ran, the pouch flopped around. That was irritating so stopped and put the belt on inside out so the belt pressed the holster against my side. Problem solved! No bounce. No sweat damage. Weapon can be quickly drawn with one hand. Once I found the best spot (2 o'clock for me), I didn't notice it for the rest of the run.

Weight with phone, 7oz water bottle and KelTec 380: 33 ounces. Weight with just the belt, pouch and Kel Tec 380: 17 ounces.

If anyone is interested, I'll upload some photos.