Ladies-How do you stay safe while jogging alone?

If you don't want or can't get a real gun, get a good imitation. I'm serious, if you look online you can find cheap ones that look real (real enough to an attacker in the dark anyway). It won't actually protect you, but it's a great deterrent. It's really just the threat of being shot that will scare them off anyway. Plus, you won't have to learn how to shoot or worry about shooting off a boob while you're running.

I would really not recommend this actually. It can just end up with the cops being called on you because hey, some person is running around with a visible gun! (In most places, openly carrying is illegal.) It would lead to a sticky situation and I just would not recommend that...

Mace is a wonderful deterant

Many people can resist mace. Don't know anyone who can resist bullets.

Leave the mace at home....OC all the way! The stronger the SHU the better. The likelyhood of someone being resistant to mace...higher than being resistant to OC. BTW...take it from someone who has been sprayed with OC...it sucks and it hurts and anyone getting that into their eyes will curl up in a ball on the ground.

If that dont' work, a quick brachial stun will work too.

I worry about this two, I live in South East London, England and it can be dodgy at night. Also pepperspray and any other weapon is completely illegal here in the UK.

If I were to carry pepper spray/mace and spray it at an attacker it would be a premeditated attack on my behalf for carrying an illegal weapon or firearm.

Really!! Thats so odd! So what do you do

It's not that strange, to be honest I'm finding all the comments about packing a knife or a gun to be completely insane as it is so against our culture in the UK.

What if the attacker turns the weapon around on you?

I haven't had a lot of trouble, I don't make eye contact and just keep running with my headphones in. So whether someone has shouted me or not I wouldn't know.

I wouldn't know what to do if there was someone who directly approached me but I really, really don't think guns and knives are the answer. It's a massive problem and it's scary that you all have such easy access to guns.

The idea is just foreign to me as well. I'm not in the UK though but not US either.

Get a running buddy, human or canine. They can also help push you to run further/faster.

Admittedly, I didn't take the time to read ALL of the responses, so I may be duplicating another person's advice. I always let someone know my route and approximately how long I think I'll be gone. I call them when I'm done/home safe. I don't run at the same time everyday or have a predictable route/pattern (this isn't actually on purpose, sometimes I'm just lazy!) I also carry my cell phone and will be ordering the Road ID tag that will have my information on it. As for the music, I try to resist the temptation to crank up the volume so I can hear cars approaching, but I'm not always great about that part. I'd like to thank you for posting the question and the responses I read shared some good advice. Good luck and stay safe.

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Yet still 1/5 US women is raped in her lifetime....interesting...
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Although in only 4% of these cases the perpetrator is a stranger. Also if you look at the psychology of stranger rapists, it's all about power so they do generally only go for females that they perceive as being weak or an easy target. Having said that women running alone should do everything they can to protect themselves especially being alert and letting people know where you are going and when you will be back. But you can't go through life being scared to live.

For the record. The stats

- Someone with whom the respondent was in love: 46%
- Someone that the respondent knew well: 22%
- Acquaintance: 19%
- Spouse: 9%
- Stranger: 4%

I worry about this two, I live in South East London, England and it can be dodgy at night. Also pepperspray and any other weapon is completely illegal here in the UK.

If I were to carry pepper spray/mace and spray it at an attacker it would be a premeditated attack on my behalf for carrying an illegal weapon or firearm.

Really!! Thats so odd! So what do you do

It's not that strange, to be honest I'm finding all the comments about packing a knife or a gun to be completely insane as it is so against our culture in the UK.

What if the attacker turns the weapon around on you?

I haven't had a lot of trouble, I don't make eye contact and just keep running with my headphones in. So whether someone has shouted me or not I wouldn't know.

I wouldn't know what to do if there was someone who directly approached me but I really, really don't think guns and knives are the answer. It's a massive problem and it's scary that you all have such easy access to guns.

The idea is just foreign to me as well. I'm not in the UK though but not US either.

I'm in Australia and our gun culture is miles away from the culture in the US. I honestly don't think this idea would come up with any seriousness if we were discussing this issue in Australia.

I worry about this two, I live in South East London, England and it can be dodgy at night. Also pepperspray and any other weapon is completely illegal here in the UK.

If I were to carry pepper spray/mace and spray it at an attacker it would be a premeditated attack on my behalf for carrying an illegal weapon or firearm.

Really!! Thats so odd! So what do you do

It's not that strange, to be honest I'm finding all the comments about packing a knife or a gun to be completely insane as it is so against our culture in the UK.

What if the attacker turns the weapon around on you?

I haven't had a lot of trouble, I don't make eye contact and just keep running with my headphones in. So whether someone has shouted me or not I wouldn't know.

I wouldn't know what to do if there was someone who directly approached me but I really, really don't think guns and knives are the answer. It's a massive problem and it's scary that you all have such easy access to guns.

I'm just outside london as well, and it's terrifying to see all these comments about carrying knives and guns...remind me not to go running when I visit my sister in the states!

I live in a really quiet village, but we've had really high profile kidnappings and murders from here, I tend to just run during the day past busy places - lots of nursery/primary schools and churches, and if I can't, then I'll do cardio inside. I live nowhere near any of my friends, and if they knew that I was running, they'd probably just sit me down and feed me cake!

LOL @ all the gun freaks in here

If you need to carry a gun to go for a jog, then I think it's time to stay indoors. LOL @ all the brainless nitwits in this country who think the answer to every societal problem is carrying a gun. Yeah, dude, you're so much more American now. That's really cool the Constitution is your guide to living. Oh, did you want a beer?

Just be cautious in life, period. That's all you can do. If you have to start loading one in the chamber before you set out to do your stupid little 3 mile loop, then no one really wants you apart of our civilization. Stay home, meditate, and get your chakras in order.

I want one of these SO bad! I take pepper spray. Not the best defense but better than nothing.

Compression shorts with a holster built in.