Horsemen Email

Here is an email chain between me and one of the other Horsemen (Brent). I had sent him pictures of a recent Change of Command and here is where we start. (BTW, LtCol Stopa is as big as a house. A very muscular, intimidating house):

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Jason,

Thanks…and you better change the info to read "LtCol" Jim Stopa vice Major as he is a year or so senior to me….and he is highly capable of ripping your lips off.

S/F
Brent
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He was a Major at the time! Ew, maybe he wasn’t. Was he?

I ran into him twice yesterday. Well, didn’t “run into him” because as you can tell, I’m able to type. But I saw him as I was walking in my building (he was lost, looking for a meeting that was in another building). Then I saw him in the gym at lunch. He’s embarrassingly puny these days.

Anyway, talked to him about joining the modern age and getting an iPod. He’s still using a CD player in the gym so I extolled the virtue of an iPod. He said he was thinking about getting his daughter one and he might consider it.

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Jason,

Stopa was a LtCol at the time. He has been a LtCol for over a year....at the time, I was the boot LtCol, not him. Remember, I had exactly 24 hours time in grade at this COC

Hey, how was your Thanksgiving? Did you eat yourself out of your Alphas?

While I still am not going to the WWW next year. I do plan to run the USMC (I have longer to train). Perhaps that could be the next "horseman" event.....since it's so close to you and Phil and doable for me.

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Thanksgiving was great, just stayed put and ate, napped, read, and geeked. Now I’m doing two-a-days to get ready for the holidays. Going back to the Midwest where my Mexican side of the family will fill us full of fried lard. It will not be pretty, hence the two-a-days and baked chicken breasts and salads.

Correction: you ARE doing the WWW so get your silver oak-leafed ass on the road and get ready. I’ve lived through 5 years of your pussy excuses and you will never be as young as you are right now. A goal without a plan is called a dream so get on the pavement, get in the gym, and get ready to visit the desert in May.

That is all.

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A plan without resources is a hallucination!

Anyway, I'll see you in October at the USMC Marathon.....which will be the LAST MARATHON I EVER RUN. How do you get into the Marathon anyway? My office wants to run it as a team.

By the way, Marathons are not healthy for pudgy middle-aged white guys.

Now I must change over to do my lunch run.

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That’s it, I’m turning you into the Horsemen Motivation Conglomerate. Stand by, Colonel.

To answer your question, you put you name in to the website once it opens. In past years, they’ve had a lottery but in 2005, they just let almost everyone in. If they go back to lottery, you put your info in and then start getting weekly emails telling you if you made it or not.

There is also a rumor that the Marathon office reserves slots and active duty can walk in and get them. I don’t know if that’s true but it’s right here on base and if need be, I can check it out.

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(This is from Sir Phil, one of the other Horsemen)

And the ORF chimes in: hey, Buckwheat, the WWW will be a great training run for the Marine Corps Marathon. That, Del Taco macho-combo burritos, a little VEegas (or was it going to be Reno this year?), a healthy dose of "we toss 'em, there awesome" capped off with some strength and honor will have you all set by Nov 06. No cheese-dickery.

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