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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Myra Rodrigues has completed marathons across Canada and the United States but she's never once seen the finish line.

The 65-year-old Toronto woman was diagnosed at three and a half with infantile glaucoma, causing blindness.

Myra Rodrigues, left, and her guide Sue Bates pose after crossing the finish line after completing the half-marathon on Sunday morning. - James McCarthy/NNSL photo

Last September, to celebrate her 65th birthday, Rodrigues started in Newfoundland on a 13-stop, cross-country marathon tour to raise money for the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB). Sunday's half-marathon at Overlander Sports was number 11 on her list.

When she first tells people she knows about her year-long marathon tour, "they say, 'is that Myra's Marathon or Myra's mania?'" she said.

"There are things that stick in your mind for each race," she said. "There haven't been any that I haven't enjoyed."

She's competed amid crowds of 45,000 in New York City, power-walked alongside painted-blue-nosed athletes in Halifax and raced into the midnight sunset before a 3 a.m. champion's breakfast in the village of Mayo, Yukon, but last weekend was her first time in Yellowknife.

Before the race, Rodrigues admitted that her guide from Toronto, Sue Bates, was a little nervous about the unfamiliar race course. In each of her races a guide accompanies Rodrigues, who holds on to an elastic tether attached to the guide's waist. She can't take her guide dog, a black Labrador retriever named Caramel, with her on races because guide dogs aren't used to running long distances and are trained to stop during dangerous situations - including oncoming crowds of fast runners.

"It's quite a responsibility for the guide," she said. "There are some challenges with injuries," she added, explaining that her bones are fragile and she doesn't want to get any stress fractures.

"I'm being really careful because I have to finish this," she laughed. "I've had over 60 years of service (from CNIB). It's payback time."

Rodrigues, who is also a member of CNIB's board of directors and chair of the organization's programs and services committee, is paying for the tour out of her own pocket. Still, she has received a lot of donations to help cover the expenses, such as free accommodations in Super 8 Motels and free WestJet flights.

So far she estimates she's raised about $30,000 for the CNIB library's collection of braille, digital and audio books.

Norma Jarvis, CNIB NWT regional manager, said 151 people in the territory use CNIB's services. Roughly 30 of them use the CNIB library, which costs about $500 per person annually to provide.

"A lot of people don't think about access to information for people with vision loss," she said.

Rodrigues' next stop is Regina before she finishes off her adventure with the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon on Sept. 28. She'll keep accepting online donations to Myra's Marathon until the end of December.

"I've met a lot of people who've patted me on the back and said, 'hey, my mom uses the CNIB library," Rodrigues said. "It keeps me going."

- Please see Page 27 for marathon results.