(WSBT) It's a personal race around the world, and a British woman ran part of it Thursday in South Bend.

Rosie Swale-Pope is running for a cause, but she says she sees herself as an ordinary person.

With the death of her husband last year to prostate cancer, Swale-Pope started her journey to raise money for cancer in 2003.

“My brother, Nicolas, he made a picture of my foot, he engraved my foot on the flagstone of my house, when I set off, the first step," Swale-Pope explained. "And then he'll do one when I get to the last step.”

The goal is to circle the earth, trying to stay on as much land as possible.

Swale-Pope's mission has taken her to Russia, Germany and Poland.

“I ran across Alaska and Canada, and then I entered America and North Portal," she said. "I ran across North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois and beautiful Indiana.“

She's covered 21,000 miles and faced frostbite, an Alaskan winter and two Russian winters, but continues on.

“That you have to face problems and minimize them," she said about what she's learned on her journey. "You should never fear anything.“

She's raised $250,000 so far, and says she'll never forget the places she's been.

“I am grateful and spoiled by the way people look after me," she said. "People are always checking on me, always helping me. I say 'thank you' to people. Sometimes people have given me money which they say is not for the charity but [to] have a hot meal."

After Indiana, she will head to three more states before heading back overseas — and eventually to the finish line at her home in Wales.