This thread is already full of brilliant comments worth reading and I'm grateful to see it. One thing I want to add, and to see more of out there, is for runners to be allies to other runners who are in a fraught situation. It's similar to the good advice for intervening if you see someone harassing another person: try to disrupt the situation in order to diffuse and/or de-escalate it, pretend you know the person who's getting the unwanted attention, physically disrupt the space if you can, and try to disperse it.

On that note of unwanted attention, mostly what I wish more men knew about "running while female" is that even the littlest bit of attention while we're running can be unwanted, demoralizing, run-ruining, and threatening. Please make sure you read Victoria's comment in this thread about how even — I would add: especially — a well intentioned interaction can be terrifying for us.

I know I've essentially just asked for more attention (as in, please be aware and keep an eye out for all your fellow runners, and be an ally when you can) while ALSO wishing to be blissfully ignored while Running While Female In Public. I've spent so many miles upset (usually after some unwanted attention) and wondering how this could just be not a thing we deal with as a fact of running, but I usually come back to this: just remember we're all on the same team, and try to act like that and be excellent to each other, because really, we're all a little vulnerable out there.