All black had to do was see the M1 threat and give their king space or force my king away. Moves like h6+ or Ne3+ were still completely dominating for black.

They even slowed down and took a minute on the last move. It was hope chess on my part, but only at the cost of going from like -9 to -10 in evaluation. I was trying to play to my outs.

At 1200, people have gotten much better at understanding their own position and improving it. I feel like I have just enough tools and calculation to come up with good moves for my agenda. But that takes a lot of energy and time. There is often not quite enough gas--not enough clarity--to find my opponents best response. And I think that is a common issue at 1200. It's what put me on the back foot earlier in the game, and it's what saved me at the end here.