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Being naturally the color of a sheet of paper, I really should have learned in my 27 years that the sun and beach are not my friends unless I am lathered up in heavy-duty sunscreen. However, stubborn as I am, I was convinced to get a savage tan while in Thailand. So naturally, yesterday, when I went for a beach day, I decided to leave the ol’ SPF 30 at home and “risk it.” I’ve been in Thailand for almost a month now, so my skin is obviously immune to the sun. Big oops.

The day at Kata Beach was amazing, and I don’t regret going. Flavia and I set up our towels near the ocean and bunkered down for a nice long day of dipping into the sea and soaking up some rays. I was so disappointed that I had forgotten the coconut oil because of how much it would have enhanced our tans… (looking back, that would have been the WORST possible situation).

It was a pretty fantastic day of relaxation. I’ve been feeling rough from all the training, so I was just enjoying lying around and being a beach bum. The problem is, you really don’t realize how much you’re being baked alive when you’re constantly in and out of the ocean for hours on end. After lying in the sun for about 7 hours, Flavia pointed out that my nose might be getting a ‘little’ red. I had been getting a bit warm the past hour or so, so erring on the side of caution, I moved to a spot in the shade. This was very much likely about 6 and a half hours too late.

Upon arrival back at camp, I felt a bit of a burn settling in but figured it wasn’t going to be too bad. Wrong again (dammit, that seems to happen a lot to me). Turns out, much to my disappointment, I am not invincible, and I should probably start listening to science (and everyone else) when it comes to the sun and my skin. As I lay in bed last night, there was no possible comfortable position. My skin literally felt like it was melting and sticking to my sheets. When I woke up, not only did I have a pretty nasty sunburn covering 90% of my body, but my lips looked like I got a botched Thai lip job done.

Blisters have formed on my shoulders, and for some reason, I feel like my eyes continually want to go cross-eyed. (Wow, attractive, I know.) Today has literally been a day full of applying and reapplying aloe vera. My skin is soaking it up at record speeds, and I have already gone through two bottles. Every move I make feels like my skin may just rip right off. Throat. Back of the knees. Lower back. Wrists. Chest. Yeah, basically Thailand got me good. So what have I learned from this experience? Next time, buy more aloe vera. 😉

But damn, Kata, you sure are a beautiful place to get sunburned…