An average guy or gal can cover 24 feet in less than two seconds, so my only option was learn to assess a threat from a greater distance or get faster on my draw time.
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Those are two great thing to train for, but they are far from your only options.
Learning to draw, rotate pistol to target, and fire from the hip can significantly reduce time to first shot. Especially useful if someone is closing to contact ranges and you are still on the x.
Get off the x. Make the enemy reset their OODA loop and react to you, not you react to them.
When you get off the x, do it to your left, enemies right. 91% of the world is right handed/footed. That makes it easier to adjust forward motion left and takes a split second longer to go right. Use that.
As they quickly close into contact distances, forego the draw altogether. Gain space. Quarter off, sidestep, use hard hands to give them a shove and let their momentum do the rest. Or not. Sometimes their momentum does it all for you. You can now stop and have lunch before you draw if you want.
In the real world, people have things in their hands a great many times when trouble presents itself. Use those things as distractions. Throw a drink in their face, a handfull of change at them, etc. Find ways to incorporate distractions into your training.
Don't turn things into a 24' race that you *could* lose. That cost is too high.
Cheat.
Cheat like hell.
I do.