In her earlier career, she was a steeplechase runner and was the Kenyan champion in the event in 1998. That same year, she ran in the short race at the 1998 IAAF World Cross Country Championships and finished sixth, helping Kenya to fourth in the rankings. However, it was on the roads in France that she established herself as a top class runne. She won the 1995 edition of the Saint Pol-Morlaix Half Marathon, ran the fastest ever half marathon in Macau in 1997, and was the 1998 winner of the Foulée Suresnoise 10K. In 2001, she won the Boulogne-Billancourt Half Marathon and also had her second victory at the Saint Pol-Morlaix. Back-to-back wins came at the Alençon-Médavy in 2001 and 2002.