Till it hurts

I found out this past weekend that I will be competing with the dance team I am on at the upcoming Canadian Swing Championships (I am sure someone will post the link). Oh boy. I am actually of two minds about this. On the one hand, competing with the team is an honour in itself. We were for the most part handpicked with no auditions and most people on the team are champions. It is an all-star team, or nearly. Well, except for me and one or two others. To my credit, the dancing part is great. I zip around and make it look easy. Zip zip zip. But! But then we have the aerials. Five of them! All new to me! Not to mention two lifts. Before, these lifts would be plenty for me to chew on and now they are barely worth a mention. I am spun around, flipped upside down, thrown over, grabbed unceremoniously by the thighs and flipped again. And I have to jump. Jump. Over and over and over I have to jump. I am not much of a jumper, you see. My legs feel like they are cemented firmly to the ground with my brain helping out by making little shrieking 'no, no, no!' sounds. Stay down! it shouts. Plus, there is The Speed. We are talking speeeeeed. Bal team fast with lindy hop material. So I am in pain. All the time. I practice a few times a week and hurt every day.