After cancer took away the sport she loved, Issa Forrest turned to running

Issa Forrest was 40 years old and in the best shape of her life when her doctor told her it was time to get a mammogram.

She was reluctant to go because she had no reason to think she wasn't in perfect health. She had a personal trainer, she had a dietitian and coaches to help her stay in shape as a world-class fitness competitor — she twice participated in Ms. Fitness USA on Fox Sports — and she had no history of cancer in her family.

"I'd never felt anything, (my doctor) never felt anything, we'd had no indication that this mammogram was going to be anything other than routine," Forrest said.

It came back positive. Forrest had breast cancer.

"(It was) complete shock," Forrest said. "(It's like) you're all upside down in a snow globe, all shaken up, and you don't know what's going on."

A decade later, Forrest is 51 and cancer free. On Saturday she was one of the approximately 5,000 runners and walkers who participated in the Alaska Run for Women, which raises funds for breast cancer research, detection and treatment. She placed 30th among the scores of breast cancer survivors with a 5-mile time of 1 hour, 11 minutes.

She calls the race her "safe zone."

"There is no judgment and no questions," Forrest said. "Just acceptance and support."

[Thousands turn course pink during Alaska Run for Women]

Forrest beat cancer, but at a price — she can no longer compete in fitness events due to muscle loss.

But she didn't stop being an athlete. She just changed sports.

Forrest recently ran her third marathon and she's completed the Mount Marathon mountain race six times. She participated in the 2009 Iron Dog snowmachine race — her team scratched — and she's raced several triathlons.

Forrest's athletic accolades have piled up over the years, but after hearing her cancer diagnosis, she didn't know if she would ever compete again.

Determined to stay fit and active, Forrest reached out to her favorite athlete, DeeDee Jonrowe, who is also a breast cancer survivor.

Jonrowe responded right away.

"For her to respond to an email from a random person, that's really special," Forrest said. "We ended up emailing several times back and forth.

"DeeDee was pretty much my lifeline (early on)."

Working out brought some normalcy to her life in the midst of the chaos of cancer, Forrest said. She became weak from months of chemotherapy, and even though she could no longer push herself like she used to, time in the gym was time she wasn't thinking about her disease.

Her can-do attitude spilled over into other areas of life. During regular visits to the doctor, Forrest took the stairs up to the third floor instead of the elevator.

"I told myself I was going to walk those stairs every single appointment," Forrest said. "At the end of the year, those stairs were hard, but I did them every time."

Eighteen months passed between Forrest's diagnosis and her final round of chemo. During chemo, she participated in her third Run for Women and she hasn't missed one since.

In the first year after her "year of hell," Forrest competed in the 2008 Eagle River Triathlon. She upgraded in 2010 to Mount Marathon — Alaska's famous 3.1-mile mountain run up the 3,022-foot peak in Seward — and in 2015 she ran her first marathon.

[Rooted in revolt, the Alaska Run for Women turns 25]

It wasn't always easy. During her first half-marathon, she tripped on a traffic cone a mile into the 13.1-mile race. As a trail runner, she was used to rocks and roots and other perils, but a bright orange traffic cone was her downfall on a straight, paved road.

"My hands are all bloody and I'm trying to run and I've got blood on my palms and they're all sticky," Forrest recalled, laughing about her mishap. "It was just miserable."

A private person, Forrest said she hopes telling her story will let women with breast cancer know they can still be active. Even something as simple as walking on a treadmill can help, she said.

"Someone who is already used to exercising, that's their normal, and having some normal parts of your life during (the) craziness is really important," Forrest said. "If you're struggling to run that mile or lift that 100 pounds or bike those 10 miles — if you're focused on that, even if it's at a slower or reduced level, you're still focusing on something other than cancer."