She began competing in road races in Ethiopia and came fourth at the 2004 Great Ethiopian Run.[1] She went to Catalonia in Spain in 2006 and made her debut over the half marathon distance, including wins in Mataró and Terrassa.[2] She won the San Silvestre Barcelonesa 10K race at the end of the year.[3] She travelled to Japan in 2007 and won the 10K at the Sanyo Road Race – her time of 31:54 minutes made her the third fastest Ethiopian that year.[4][5] She won the 2008 Women First 5K in Addis Ababa in March,[6] then came fourth at the high-profile World 10K Bangalore in May.[7] She debuted on the European track and field circuit that summer and set a 5000 metres best of 15:17.74 minutes at the Internationales Stadionfest and a 10,000 metres best of 31:27.80 minutes at the Ostrava Golden Spike.[8]