RKC San Diego

Here we are now, San Diego, CA.  It’s Thursday, the night before we begin our journey of fear, excitement, nerves, doubt and pure joy of what we call the RKC weekend.  They have a social for us and this is where we find out what team we are on.  Me on Team Rif. Pretty excited about that. He’s a Master RKC and I know I’ll learn a lot from him.  Mark was on Team Jones- boy was he excited about that.  He’s a big Brett Jones fan.  So we meet and mingle with many of the people we’ve heard or read about.  Kind of like being a kid in a candy store with all of these options of wonderful people around you to talk to!  Friday morning started of with the snatch test. I was SOOOO nervous for this.  Not really sure why, I’ve faired pretty well with this test at home, but that didn’t matter. I needed to do well today. OMG, my stomach was all in knots and I was just panicking.  But by the time we started, I knew it was go time and I was ready.  I finished and passed! I kept looking around the field to see the rest of our gang to see how we all did. The only person I could find was Mandy, Dave’s wife and she was all happy and excited so I knew that we must have done well.  The rest of Friday was kind of a blur. It was HOT and the field was wet, which meant lots of mud, but that didn’t bother me. I was on a mission.  Friday was a little rough for me.  My timing was off and I just couldn’t get into my groove.  This is when feelings of doubt really started to come in.  We got done with Friday and I learned so much new information and refreshed my memory on some old. I was beat down and tired and it was only day 1!  I told myself that tomorrow is another day and I have a chance to put it all together then.

Saturday was a much better day than Friday.  It was still hot and miserable but I knew that everyone else out there felt the same exact way and I think that made it a little easier for me.  I knew that I had to suck it up if I wanted to become a RKC.  This is where the true heart and dedication started showing.  During the breaks I’d try to talk to members of our “clan” to see how we were all doing.  Everyone was feeling great and doing wonderful. That was really good to see and hear.  The last workout of Saturday was the VO2 max test.  After a long hard day of training and learning (ex. squat/swing ladder that was almost the death of me!) we had to finish with this.  We only had to go for 10 minutes, so I didn’t think that would be too bad. My hands looked like mush from the past two days and snatching continuously was only going to make them worse, but this is it, day is over after this, need to make it through! After the 10 minutes were up they said anyone that wants to go for another 5 can stick with it and keep going.  I so badly wanted to put my bells down and call it a day, but really, I can’t quit. I’m not like that. I like a challenge. Plus I knew Kristen was going to keep going, she’s a Vo2 queen.  And I knew Mark would and we are competitive with each other so I knew I had to.  So 5 more minutes we went and I loved every minute of it!

Sunday here we come. Today is the day.  We have testing in the morning, victim training in the afternoon and top of the day with the grad workout.   I was in the last group of Team Rif to go through testing.  My stomach was all over the place…could I do it? Would it be good enough to pass?  I kept going through my head all the cues they gave me all weekend and was hoping that I could get them right. Once I was up on the bells, all the nervousness went away.  I felt great. For this first time all weekend my confidence was really back and I did what I was told and I think I did pretty well.  I finally felt good about what I was doing.  Next in the afternoon was victim training.  This is really what I had been dreading all weekend.  I got paired up with another member of Team Rif, Mark, and we took our victim Will and helped him with his swing (he had done the swing before) and taught him the getup. Once we got going, Mark and I seemed to be at ease with each other and worked really well together.  That hour went by so fast.  I had been nervous for this since I signed up for RKC and it was over like that.  Okay, here we come, grad workout time.  I picked up my 12kg bells and walked towards the other side of the field. It seemed like such a long walk and the end line seemed miles away.  You mean, I have to do swings and cleans and then carry these bells overhead all the way to the other side?  Ready or not, I gotta get started.  The timer went off and we were going.  I kept hearing my team assistants and team leader yelling and cheering us on.  I’ll never forget Rif saying “you are going to remember this for the rest of your lives” and he’s right.  When I finally made it to the end I was overwhelmed with emotions and I just wanted to cry. I gave everything I had into this weekend and this is it. Either it was enough or it wasn’t.  The grad workout is not only a test of strength and endurance, but also of mental strength, determination and drive.  I put my bells down and went to the sidelines to cheer on my teammates that still needed to finish. You could just see the perseverance and heart on these people’s faces and they were getting to that finish line. Rif was right, this is one of the moments I will remember for the rest of my life!

Now it’s time to find out. Did we or did we not pass?  When it was my turn to go and Rif called me over to him he told me I had passed! I couldn’t stop smiling and giving him hugs. All the hard work for the last 10 months had paid off. I was finally a RKC. Now it’s time to find the rest of the clan. First I saw David, he gave me a thumbs up, I gave him a hug.  Then it was Jay and Kristen. Both had passed!!! Go team!! Then I was trying to find Mark.  He was still outside and still waiting…c’mon, I need to know! (as if there really was any doubt!). Finally, I got the news. He passed too!! Woo hoo!! Iron Tamer Clan went 5 for 5.  Thank you Dave Whitley (aka Iron Tamer) for training us and helping us get to where we needed to be. I’ve learned so much from you.

This experience has brought all of us together and this is a life experience that will bond us no matter which directions we take in life.  We are always going to be “family”. We’ve learned a lot about each other in our months of training and from the RKC experience.  Everyone has such a strong heart and desire and a “don’t give up” attitude that helped our team flourish and helped us build lifelong friendships.  Thank you Mark, the best bestie, hubby, workout partner anyone could ask for. He helped me prepare for this and provided constant encouragement- he is definitely one of kind.  Kristen, for being the other girl and showing me that it doesn’t matter what size you are, you can be incredibly strong (and believe me, this girl is a machine!)-I’ve learned a lot just by watching her.  David, who is now officially my big brother.  Passing the RKC was something he wanted to do for his 40th. This man looks about half that age and is in incredible. Jay, probably one of the most sincere people I have ever met, but man get him going when he’s working out and he is quite a trip and his humor got us through a lot of grueling workouts.  Also shout out to Matt McBryde and Dennis Breckey, both RCKs in Nashville.  They’ve covered for Dave’s classes a few times and have offered continuous support and knowledge for all of us as we embarked on this journey!

Oh yeah, those little 10 and 15 pounders we started off with…collecting dust in the car.  It’s amazing what kind of strength we both have gained in just 11 months of doing kettlebells.  LOVE IT!!

Iron Tamer Clan coming soon again…RKC II:)