Create a stroke in the middle of a letter (path), so I can animate trim paths in AE.

Hello everyone,

Like the title says, I want to create a logo animation with trim paths. But for that effect to happen I need to have a stroke in AE which I can animate. If I import the Illustrator file into AE and turn vector to shape layers, I get a shape, but not a stroke. I need to have the Stroke in the middle of the shape and follow its form and it has to look exactly like in Illustrator. I know I can trace the letters with the pen tool but it's not accurate enough. I know the problem is probably within Illustrator. Is there a trick to this? I need to have a stroke line in the center of the letter basically. And even if I have it in illustrator, does AE recognize it as a stroke and creates one? Or is it just a shape layer again?

Thanks for the answers in advance.