Just don’t tell me you are running around with mace in your shorts because it is safer. And if at all possible let me know where you will be, so I can be somewhere else.
I always run with pepper spray clipped to my shorts. Along with a phone. Just to clarify, I run in an upscale suburb of a city of 4 million, not the boonies. Still, in the recent months, there have been robberies and rapes of runners in our area. I think anyone running anywhere with less is foolish.