My 2 cents: Awareness of your surroundings in paramount, and it sounds to me like she had that covered. I can't see where she did anything wrong here. Being armed is fine, but if you're walking around in your own self-absorbed little world, chances are your weapon won't be of much help in a bad situation...most particularly those types of situations where you're taken by surprise. She had her head up and her eyes open, and that made the difference in this instance. As I've said before: Mighty hard to lose the fight if you're gone when it starts.