In college, she won three Division II national championships and was named an All-American eight times.

Cherobon-Bawcom was born as Janet Cherobon on August 22, 1978, in Kapsabet, a small village in Kenya, to a single mother.

Fearful that her scholarship would be pulled, she trained hard all summer to improve her times.

Over the next four years, named an All-American eight times, and set multiple school and national records in the process.

[2] Cherobon graduated from Harding in 2005 with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in health care management and nursing.

[3] Upon graduation, Janet Cherobon-Bawcom enrolled at Georgia Highlands College to obtain a license as registered nurse.

[6] The competitive desire soon returned, and Cherobon-Bawcom began to enter, and win, regional road races.

[4] Inspired by her success, she decided to seek out a top-notch coach, settling on Jack Daniels in 2011.

[1] In August, the IAAF declared her eligible to represent the United States in international competition.

[4] At the January 2012, U.S. Olympic marathon trials, Cherobon-Bawcom finished fifth with a time of 2:29:45, besting her personal record by nearly eight minutes.

"[6] Later in 2012, she set a new American record in the 25 km, turning in a time of 1:24:36 at the U.S. road championship in the Fifth Third River Bank Run.

[1] In April, Cherobon-Bawcom ran a 31:33 10,000 meters at the Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational, her first track race in seven years.

"I thought I might qualify for the trials and go run them just for fun, but making the team didn’t really cross my mind", she said.

[3] Bawcom, an American citizen from Searcy, Arkansas (home of Harding University), was volunteering in Kenya when he met Cherobon's mother.

She asked him to bring her daughter a care package of tea and spices when he returned to the States, and he agreed.