I sometimes know it when I'm wrong about a problem. It doesn't sit right in my gut. I write these notes to try to explore some of my thoughts and emotions about races logically, so if I see the situation again I'm better prepared, but sometimes what actually happened in the woods becomes a blur in the abstract logic. People at work teases me for thinking too abstractly.

I think there is something to the logic, but the world champion premise is wrong. I think a world champion gets thru faster, but our guys are good enough to find the methods to get thru cleanly. Too many good people had the same problems in the same places. The premise of availability of technique at that level seems wrong, but speed of execution of technique and overall fitness is where the world champion wins.

I think I'm just frustrated that I can't really know if something was fair or not, as the USOF quality control process is dysfunctional. After plunking down cross country travel money month after month, it is totally pot luck what you get, and I think I was trying to find a line of thought that rationalizes that I got what I was paying for, without dwelling on this same dead horse post after post.