GOBI MARCH (MONGOLIA)
250 KM / 155-MILE, 6-STAGE ULTRAMARATHON

From Cancer to the Gobi March

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Louisa Forrester from Australia has always been an active person as well as having a high level career. The Gobi March is her fifth RacingThePlanet Ultramarathon, but this one is different. She is racing nine months after being diagnosed with Breast Cancer and three months after a double mastectomy.

Until nine months ago, Louisa was fit and well with no idea of what lay ahead.

She was all set to travel to Chile for the Atacama Crossing in September 2023 when she felt two lumps on her breasts
“I had a very bad feeling about it considering the size and location of the lumps (according to Dr Google, it did not sound good). I thought that a few weeks would probably not make a difference, so I did not tell a soul and planned to see a doctor when I got back to Brisbane from Chile. I so, so wanted to do Atacama”

“Participating at Atacama Crossing was somewhat emotional for me, I only confided in a fellow participant at the presentation dinner about my suspicion, as I could not stop crying watching the photos and video, reflecting about the week that has passed and thinking that I may never experience it again. Every step across the desert and every encounter was therefore very special for me.”

When she returned home, she saw a doctor and the ball started rolling from there on.
“I was expecting the diagnosis, but it turned out to worse than I thought - the cancer had spread to my lymph nodes as well. My oncologist got me going on a 16-week chemotherapy treatment followed by a double mastectomy. In fact, one month to the day after The Long March in Atacama, I had my first chemo treatment”.

Her thoughts at this time were:
“I have survived many tough things (particularly the mountains of RacingThePlanet: New Zealand, getting lost in the freezing cold and mist at RacingThePlanet: Georgia and the searing heat of the salt flats in Atacama, HAHAHA) and therefore I will survive breast cancer, no matter how difficult it may be.”

The first day of chemo was long and so she had time to think about how she was going to approach the next few months. “I decided that a needed something positive and personally important to look forward to and that the prospect of that would help me. I entered for The Gobi March sitting in my treatment chair that day”.

“Everyone thought I was crazy, including my family and my doctors. Gobi would be three months after my surgery, which followed the chemo treatment.”
"The more people said that the Gobi March will not be possible given my treatment, the more determined I became."

"Some days during treatment were harder than others but staying focussed on how lucky I was to be alive and to have experienced amazing places during my many hikes, training runs and races and how much I was not ready to give up on those, as well as my amazing family and friends, got me out of bed on good and not so good days. Having that base fitness and the prospect of Gobi allowed me to do a few slow training runs/walks between treatments".

"I also did not want breast cancer and my treatment to impact my family and friends. Therefore I decided to never complain and to focus on how lucky I am, particularly considering the many cancer patients that I encountered in the cancer ward at hospital during every treatment who were much, much worse off than I was."

"I managed to do slow solitary walks/runs in the mountains near our home which reset my mind and focus. I stayed focussed that I would be at the start line, no matter what."

Louisa was back on the trails 4 days after the mastectomy surgery, she did not accept that she had to wait 6 weeks before recommencing training (she did not tell her surgeon that!).
Eight weeks after surgery she did a 50km trail race trying to fast-track her training for Gobi.

"RacingThePlanet has given me so many wonderful and inspiring moments, from the places that I have seen and experienced, the remote communities I have seen and met who are very poor, but the most generous and spirited people, to the many like-minded participants that I have met at every race and who continue to inspire me.
I sincerely think that experiences such as crossing deserts have provided me the grit and self-belief to cope with whatever life wants to throw at me!"

The past few months have reset her focus on the things that really matter to her and made her so grateful to be alive and fit.

Louisa’s messages to the world are:

• Appreciate each and every moment of every day and actually do the things that give you joy rather than putting them off to another day somewhere in future.
• Being fit and healthy also gives us such a good base when unexpected curve balls come our way.
• Let go of irrelevant and unimportant stuff that really does not matter in the bigger context".