Step by step

Katie Visco crosses Shabbona Road while running on McGirr Road in DeKalb County on Wednesday morning. Visco, who is running across the United States, began her journey back in Boston on March 29. (Rob Winner - rwinner@daily-chronicle.com)

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SHABBONA – A massive bank of gray rolling clouds circled overhead. Rain drops spit down in sporadic fashion. In a patch of land where houses and people seemed to skip over, Katie Visco continues to follow the road less traveled.

Pounding mile after mile in her attempt to become the youngest female to ever run across the coast-to-coast in the United States, the 24-year old’s journey entered DeKalb County as she put in over 20 miles on Wednesday.

Running along a dirt road southwest of DeKalb surrounded by the rustling sounds of a crisp breeze cutting through row after row of cornfield, Visco was joined by members of the Sycamore running club NITRO (Northern Illinois Trail Runners Organization).

With an unusually chilly northeast breeze acting like air conditioning at her back, Visco continued her journey, which started on March 29 in the early-spring chill of Boston. She hopes to finish 3,200 miles later in San Diego. She’s running to benefit Girls on the Run, an “international nonprofit that empowers young girls through running.”

“These are people with dreams that just need inspiration to do them,” Visco said. “Girls on the Run wraps everything I’ve learned through running and put it in a package; self-respect, confidence, the ability to set and achieve goals and be kind and support others. It helps girls to break out of the girl box.”

But her mission extends beyond inspiring young women. It extends to everyone that has a dream. The midway point of her nine-month journey will come in Kansas City. Even though there’s a long way to go, her child-like enthusiasm is apparent in every step as she laughs, jokes and plays the role of inquisitive reporter finding out as much as possible about her running companions.

She smiles a lot, doesn’t think about being tired or enduring pain. The young ladies involved with Girls on the Run provide strength, but they aren’t alone in being her driving force when she gets sore or tired.

“The pat on the rear are the people I’ve met along the way that have been inspired already,” Katie said. “It’s the people that have taken this as a kick in the butt to put their dreams on the front burner and make them come true.

“People who tell me they have no limit anymore because they know my story are what keeps me going, it’s for all the people that need someone to do some audacious thing so they know they can fulfill their dreams.”

An incredible high

Katie Visco can’t describe what running into San Diego will feel like. But she knows it won’t be the end of her calling.

“It will be an incredible high,” Katie Visco said. “I want to seize the momentum. Girls on the Run will throw a celebration there and after that I want to go on a speaking tour and write a book.

“I want to make this powerful for people because challenges are so good. If we use this run as an example there is no way I can’t face a challenge after this. You can do anything, you can break through the walls and make progress, challenges are blessings they are good no matter what they are.”

Katie Visco also has another run planned. This time it is around the world. Australia is next. She’ll find a way to get the van there and the necessary travel accommodations, but the ultimate vehicle will remain the same.

“I’ve found my calling,” Katie Visco said. “I know what I want to do in life. The run is the vehicle that lets me take the first step towards people finding themselves.”