She came to prominence at the IAAF World Road Running Championships in 2007 where, at the age of nineteen, she ran a time of 1:08:29 for the half marathon – a record for a teenage athlete.
[2][3] At the World Road Running Championships in Udine, Italy, she was fifth and finished behind Bezunesh who set a national record for the distance and led the Ethiopians to the team silver medal.
[7] She signed up for the Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon in February 2008 and a tactical race resulted in Atsede recording the same time as Salina Kosgei and Pamela Chepchumba, with the Ethiopian taking third place on the podium.
[11] She took on two of her national rivals (Aselefech Mergia and Getanesh Getanah) at the Delhi Half Marathon in November but again finished behind them, although her time of 1:09:37 was enough for fourth place.
While poor weather prevented the possibility of a quick time, she finished in 2:25:17 for second place behind Bezunesh, beating more experienced runners including defending champion Berhane Adere and Helena Kirop.
[17] She turned her attention to the London Marathon in April, but was beaten into twelfth place and finished almost ten minutes behind race winner Liliya Shobukhova.
[21] She came close to winning the national title at the Major General Hayelom Araya 15km Championships in February, but was edged at the line by Dire Tune.