This thing that became F3 was well under way before anybody thought of a name for it. When an FNG asks me now how we came up with the name, the truthful response is that F3 named itself. Fitness, Fellowship and Faith were simply the three by-products that we observed in the men gathering in the Gloom around the ShovelFlag. And why these three F’s and not something else? I can only answer for myself when I say that these are three critical underpinnings of my life as a husband, father and member of the community. They are like the three-legged stool upon which I perch my life. I know that because I pursued them as zealously before F3 as I do now–I just didn’t succeed.

     Before I joined F3, I worked out, I knew companionship was important and I went to Church. I just did those things by myself, without the mutual accountability system that F3 provides. As a result, both my efforts and the results were inconsistent. Sometimes I was in shape, but often I wasn’t. Sometimes I had close male friends to rely upon, but mostly I didn’t. Sometimes I felt the presence of a higher power in my life, but too often I relied solely upon myself. By the time I was 43 years old I was ready to admit that the three legs of my self-constructed stool were so wobbly that I was afraid to sit on it. 

     It seems impossible, but the hour a day I spend at F3 (an hour I used to spend in the FartSack anyway), is all it takes to keep me properly aligned in these three critical areas of my life as a man. I pay nothing. I invest a mere Seven Hours a week. What I get back is priceless. Aye.