Career
Wanjiru spent her early career in Japan, running for Hitachi, then Second Wind Air Corps and regularly competed on the road circuit there. She represented her country at the 2009 Yokohama International Women"s Ekiden. Wanjiru gained an athletic scholarship in Japan at Sendai Ikue High School (renowned for sports) as a teenager and moved there to study and improve her running.
Following her graduation she moved in the corporate running system and began competing for Hitachi.
At that year"s Japan Corporate Track and Field Championships she set track bests of 15:43.05 minutes for the 5000 metres and 32:34.71 minutes for the 10,000 metres. Her fifth place finish at the Sapporo Half Marathon in 70:15 minutes was another best for the Kenyan.
She improved her track bests further to 15:31.49 and 31:56.21 minutes in 2003. She improved her best in the half marathon event two years later to 70:04 minutes at the Miyazaki Women"s Half Marathon, placing third.
She had two road wins in 2006 at the Kasumigaura 10 Miles and the Shibetsu Half Marathon.
She was eighth at the high-profile Miyazaki Half at the start of 2007. At that race she successfully transitioned and finished fourth in a time of 2:43:16 hours. She was a little slower at the Nagano Marathon the next year, finishing tenth.
In both 2008 and 2009, she placed third at the Sanyo Women"s Half Marathon.
Wanjiru began running for Second Wind Air Corps and in 2009 she competed in her first European races. She began that year with a significant personal best at the Osaka Ladies Marathon, running 2:27:38 hours for seventh place in a competitive field At the final edition of the Yokohama International Women"s Ekiden she helped the Kenyan women to second place behind the Japanese.
She was runner-up at the Hannover Marathon and Hamburg Half Marathon that year. After a two-year break from the sport in 2010 and 2011 she returned with a third place finish at the 2012 Ottawa Marathon and a runner-up placing at the Ljubljana Marathon.