If you don't feel safe walking from your home, get a bus/drive to somewhere you do, I have to do this because my area's okay but the bits around it I don't feel safe on, end of, because they're too deserted. I bus past both ways and walk where it feels a lot more civilised and there are open shops + plenty of people around.
Also I highly recommend a book called the Gift Of Fear by Gavin de Becker, it's about knowing which of your feelings regarding personal safety to trust and a load of other stuff, if I try and sum it up I can't do it justice but trust me, it's worth reading, and Amazon usually have it for a few quid.
Afaik the law only take an interest when you carry something, including something very innocent, for the specific purposes of using it as an offensive weapon, so carrying a paint aerosol for example would be hard to explain (it's going to look like you're a graffitti artist!) but any items you'd normally carry with you, are okay to use offensively if you get assaulted. And what your actual intention was in carrying them, well, who's to say...
I remember reading a survey of convicted attackers and they mentioned that one thing they look for is grabbable hair, so a ponytail swishing along as you run might be a bit too inviting, you may do better to fix your hair in tight if it's long. It might be crazy but I have long blonde hair and feel safest walking with my hair up and tucked up in a cap, which basically hides that + my face from some angles, but doesn't cover my ears or impede my own hearing or peripheral vision. I don't carry a mobile in my hand, it's another thing to attract bad folks and yer average rapist isn't likely to let you make a phone call first, like the police do for people they arrest...
(Edit to add this mentions long hair + things rapists look for:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/49755/how_to_protect_yourself_from_rapists.html ... and that most rapes are committed by someone known to the victim, so bear that in mind if you meet someone you know along the way.)
