Janetta Proverbs Henry

Janetta is an extremely warm, upbeat and accomplished Wild Cheetah Runner. She was born in Puerto Rico and grew up in Barbados in the West Indies. Her mom was an American and her dad was Bajan. She spent her childhood on a sugar plantation and went to the same Catholic Grade School until 8th grade. She came to the US to attend boarding school as a freshman. After graduating from high school, she started college at Tulane and finished at San Francisco State. She went to Medical School at US Davis and went to the University of Kansas for her OB/Gyn Residency. She met her husband the last year of that residency. She was in private practice in Overland Park, Kansas for 25 years and then worked in Seattle for 3 more years before moving to Pensacola. She worked briefly at Sacred Heart and then retired in June. She and her husband have 2 children: Justin, 25, who is working as a computer engineer in Denver and Katie, 23, who is completing a BFA in Art History and Painting at KCAI in May.

Janetta began running with cross country and track in high school but ran only occasionally after that until about 10 years ago. Her legs and hips hurt when she was on vacation and she decided to start a walking regime when she got home. That led to running: first a 5k, then a 10k, and eventually, to her favorite race distance, the half marathon. "Running was always my time for myself and it is flexible." When she and her husband moved to Florida, they stayed in an Airbnb near Running Wild. She got involved in the Wild Cheetah Girlz and later, after moving to Navarre, in the Navarre Ladies' Running Group. "I loved the freedom and peace of running before moving here and now the addition of friends and community has added another dimension at the perfect time."

Her favorite race the the area is the HO HO Hustle. She loves the fact that the community comes out for this race and it has "a big Snowman, Santa, and an ice cream truck." Janetta is considering branching out to triathlons this summer and has signed up for the new Trichix Group. She also plans to try Mere Mortals. For right now, she is gearing up for two very special half marathons: The NYC Half on March 17 (which starts in Brooklyn and ends in Central Park), and The Bridge of Gods in August (which runs along the Columbia River between Washington and Oregon.)

Click Here To Shop Janetta's Favorite Items At Running Wild!