She told me they were going to see if I could put what I learned into action, by having an undercover police officer attack me when I was out and about on a typical day. I would not know the time or the place, or how I would get attacked, only that it would be one of the R.A.D. instructors at the Huntersville Police Department, and most likely the captain.

My immediate concern was, what if I really hurt the guy, or he really hurts me? They assured me my "attacker" would be fully protected -- head gear if needed, a cup of course. But after taking the class, I thought he'd have to wear the complete lobster-looking suit that the Huntersville officers wore in class, because the R.A.D. class teaches you to go for all different parts of a man's body, especially the very vulnerable parts like the eyes, nose, wind pipe, groin, shins, top of the feet, etc.

After meeting all the officers that teach the R.A.D. class, I was pretty sure my attacker would have to come from behind because otherwise I would either A) recognize him, or B) notice that he was wearing some sort of face mask or body armor for protection. Boy was I wrong! (I'll explain later).

They gave me a week-long time period to be on alert, and I spent that entire time practicing the moves on my husband that I would use if he grabbed me with a bear hug from behind or a chokehold from behind -- head butts, elbows, kicks, knees, punches… I had it down (You are not supposed to practice on husbands, but I felt this was definitely extenuating circumstances.)

It's a very weird mindset you go into, knowing you're going to be attacked sometime within the span of a week. I actually changed some of my daily habits. For example, I used to carry my purse on my forearm and realized that I want my arms free to fight. So, I now carry a purse with a long strap and put it over my head, with the strap diagonally crossed over my shoulder. It not only makes my purse more difficult to steal, but also leaves my arms totally free.

Also, I decided to only wear a short winter coat, so I could use my legs. (It's way too hard to kick in a long trench or wool dress coat!) One of my bigger concerns is the big wheelie bag I use on workdays. It's pretty much a flight attendant bag that carries my laptop, maps, notepads, contact lists, story ideas, make-up, umbrella, and often a change of clothes. Since I couldn't really leave all that stuff behind for a week -- AND because I wanted the situation to be as real for me as possible -- I decided to just wheel the bag around as I usually do, but I had to keep reminding myself to let go of it when I got attacked.

That brings me to my last concern -- high heels. We all wore sneakers when practicing the drills in class, and I wear heels at work (definitely comfortable heels, and heels that I can run in at a full sprint.) So, I loved when we learned to use our shoes as weapons by scraping the shins and stomping on the top of the foot! This was pretty much my readiness plan.

I did try to get our special projects producer to tell me how the attack would happen, but she could not be swayed. I even tried to get the photographers to give me a heads up as to when it would happen or where, but they kept it all very secret. I spent every moment looking over my shoulder and through every bush, wondering when and where it would happen.

Then it hit me -- I thought for sure they would do it on a Saturday or Sunday morning because they know exactly when I come in to anchor the morning newscasts. Plus, they knew it would be dark, with no one around. I visualized the whole thing in my mind like a movie. I was so convinced that I called our producer to remind her that we have security at the station in the early mornings, and if that was the plan, she'd have to let them in on it so they didn't go after my “attacker.” (I was wrong again.)

Then, on a Thursday, I was on my way out to a story in Chester County and I was going to meet my photographer for the day in Fort Mill to ride south together. But our assignment desk called and said, "We're changing your story, come back to the station,” which I thought nothing of because that's pretty much par for the course in television news.

When I got to the parking lot of WCNC, I had to call the interviewee I had set-up for my Chester story to cancel. Luckily, I called from inside my SUV, because the self defense class encourages you not to talk on cell phones when walking through parking lots, because you become the easy target -- distracted and not paying attention to what's around you. I did do a quick look around to see if I saw any photographers in our bushes (because this was after all "Kotula attack week") and did not see anyone.

When I was walking through the lot, I made a quick mental note of two men who had just exited the building coming toward me -- one was a co-worker, and the other man I didn't recognize, but he wasn't the police captain who was supposed to attack me. And then I also saw that he had no protection on (at least nothing that I could see... but I found out later he was wearing a cup). He asked me for the time and I kept walking, telling him "I don't have a watch on" but it flashed through my mind that I could check my cell phone for him. Thank goodness I didn't, because he grabbed my arm and tried to pull me away. I didn't even remember what I did because it took me off guard him coming from the front and all. I didn't even realize I went into the hammer fist mode until the police officer told me afterwards. The hammer fist is a technique they teach to fend off arm grabs.

And I did drop my bag and yell like I was supposed to. But I couldn't believe what I did wrong. I RAN AFTER the attacker after I had broken free. I actually stopped and said "what am I doing?" because by that time the photographers had come out from the cars they were crouching behind.

And then I saw Captain Kee, the Huntersville police R.A.D. coordinator, come towards me and tell me "good job" (at least as far as the hammer fist and yelling -- NOT the running after the guy part.)The thing that threw me off was how subtle the attack was, and then I remembered the class explaining that most attacks are very quick and quiet (a simple arm grab) because they don't want to draw attention to the crime.

Another thing I realized was how hard it is to keep walking and not stop to talk to a stranger. You feel like you are being so rude and especially if you work in TV, because people recognize us often and I like chatting with viewers.

But the real surprise came when I went into the station. The front of our building has tinted windows all across it. The entire lobby and upstairs area was filled with producers, anchors, reporters, photographers, engineers, managers, editors, directors -- all watching my attack. Some even watched on in-house monitors by pulling up our parking lot security cameras. At that point, it didn't really matter. All I kept thinking was, "It's finally over!”

One of my bosses kidded me by saying, "We're going to use the best out of three.” Though I knew he was pulling my leg, when a delivery truck showed up at my house the next morning and the guy knocked on the door, I thought they were still messing with me.

I think that's the best lesson from R.A.D. class -- to always be aware of your surroundings and if anyone makes you feel uncomfortable or that something's just not right, listen to that voice in your head and go with your gut! I've been telling every woman I know to take this class and for anyone reading this, I'm telling you to take it too. I think my classmate Janice said it best after our last class: "Hopefully none of us will ever have to use what we learned in our lifetime." But you feel much more confident with some moves under your belt.