Janet Cherobon-Bawcom scored fifth place in the womens’ Olympic Marathon Trials in Houston on Jan. 14, 2012.
Cherobon-Bawcom ran the marathon — 26.2 miles — in two hours and 29 minutes. The average time it takes for a woman to run a marathon, according to a New York Times article published on Nov. 2, 2009, is four hours and 43 minutes, which means Cherobon-Bawcom ran it in about half the time it takes the average woman.
“I was so glad to get done,” Cherobon-Bawcom said. “Part of me was just like finally, finally I got a good race. I was just excited about it for sure. It was fun.”
Cherobon-Bawcom graduated from Harding University in May 2005 with a degree in health management.
Her personal best outdoor meet records are: 34:21.8 for 10,000 meters, 32:37 for 10 kilometers, 49:58 for 15 kilometers, 1:10:59 for a half-marathon and 2:29:45 for a full marathon. Her best indoor meet was 16:19.59 for 5,000 meters, according to the International Association of Athletics Federation.
Cherobon-Bawcom began running in her early 20s in Kenya because she needed a scholarship to go to college, but originally she did not intend to keep running after she graduated from college.
“[I thought] I’ll just hang my shoes and be done for … for forever, I guess,” Cherobon-Bawcom said. “Then I just kept going, bigger and bigger and bigger, until I ended up going to the Olympic trials.”
When Harding gave her a track scholarship, she started running under the guidance of Coach Bryan Phillips. Steve Guymon, the current women’s track coach, took over the Lady Bison track team during Cherobon-Bawcom’s sophomore year.
“I think a lot of my base, my just learning about running, is through Harding,” Cherobon-Bawcom said.
“While she was here the things that I noticed most is how dedicated and hard a worker she was,” Guymon said. “She was very determined. When she raced, I knew she was going to race really hard. She just was such an extremely tough competitor.”
Cherobon-Bawcom runs about 16 miles a day, taking a day off only about twice a month, she said. She said she still believes she has room to improve, though, because most Olympic marathon runners run about 20 miles a day.
“I still have that catching up a little bit,” Cherobon-Bawcom said.
She said her future running plans include trying out for the 10 kilometer Olympic trial in June, and “just to go have fun and get another experience.”
