Three Prongs, One Farmer: Pitchfork Finds His Trident

🎙️ ABOUT THIS EPISODE

The Plague and Gator sit down with Pitchfork (Bill Koch) of Trident for a story that starts with a year and a half of stalling and ends with a farm kid running one of Omaha's most storied AOs. Pitchfork walks through his First F in a freezing wind at Hallock Park, the near-miss on getting stuck with "Noodle" as a name, and the sink-or-swim four months it took him to go from FNG to Site Q. Along the way: a twin brother pushing him from a distance, a wife who does FIA, two kids with 2.0 nicknames already, and a faith journey from Lutheran confirmation to Catholic conversion that found its legs praying out loud at 0530.

✅ HIGHLIGHTS

✅ His twin brother, wife, and Double Dip spent over a year quietly recruiting him ✅ His First F at Hallock Park — 30 mph winds, no idea where to put his water bottle, Firewalker on Q ✅ How he dodged getting named "Noodle" and became Pitchfork instead, thanks to his grandpa's farm ✅ Mother Goose's late-night text that locked in his second workout ✅ Three-sport athlete in Axtell, NE who found nothing stuck again until F3 ✅ The coupon workout in the snow that nearly sent him to the ER — and six months to come back ✅ Discovering pre-runs by accident, now doing them 90% of the time ✅ Racing his twin brother from a distance — no direct competition, just mutual benchmark ✅ How marrying into FIA changed his marriage's communication ✅ His kids' 2.0 nicknames — Affinity and Raptor ✅ Taking the Trident flag four months into F3, VQ'ing in six weeks, admitting the imposter syndrome ✅ Passing the flag to Room Service and learning to let go — "it's your baby, even after you pass it" ✅ The real story behind Trident's Namorama being a "selfie-rama" ✅ His faith journey — Lutheran roots, RCIA into Catholicism, and finding the courage to pray out loud ✅ Two life lessons for any PAX: get comfortable being uncomfortable, and prepare for what you wish for ✅ Closing prayer request for his grandfather, currently hospitalized

💬 KEY QUOTES

🗣️ "I have no excuse. I have nothing going on Saturday." 🗣️ "Nobody was better than the next person." 🗣️ "I grew up on a farm... so I said my first job was a farmer — and that's how they got me Pitchfork." 🗣️ "Once you're at the bottom, you can only go one direction — so I committed." 🗣️ "It's your baby, even after you pass it." 🗣️ "Instead of be careful what you wish for — prepare for what you wish for." 🗣️ "I think it's important to ask for prayers for yourself, instead of putting other people first."

⏱️ CHAPTERS

00:00 — Cold Open & Prayer 02:07 — The Recruitment: Double Dip, Jackson Five & the Text That Sealed It 04:15 — The Pit: First Workout at Hallock Park 08:00 — Farmer, Not Noodle Man: Getting the Name Pitchfork 09:48 — Mother Goose Seals the Deal & the VQ He Almost Missed 13:23 — Axtell Roots: Three-Sport Athlete to Rec-League Drifter 15:24 — The Coupon That Nearly Broke Him & Falling for Pre-Runs 22:32 — Twin Benchmark: Racing Jackson Five From a Distance 27:02 — Second F, Coffee & Marrying a FIA 31:15 — 2.0s in the Gloom: Affinity, Raptor & Family Workouts 35:31 — Taking the Flag: Site Q, Sink-or-Swim & the Namorama Legend 43:31 — Multiplication, Faith & Final Prayers