Ontario father runs nearly 8,000 kilometres across Canada to raise awareness about mental health

For 148 days, Myles Dininio ran across Canada, covering nearly 8,000 kilometres from Newfoundland to British Columbia. But for the 40-year-old Ontario father of two, reaching the finish line wasn’t necessarily the accomplishment he had imagined.

“It never felt like a sense of accomplishment or a great achievement,” Dininio said. “I’ve been trying to process the end of it all, and understand what it is I am feeling.”

Dininio, from Zephyr, Ont., set out from Newfoundland on April 1 and reached Vancouver on Aug. 22, completing a cross-country journey aimed at raising awareness about mental health and funds for Toronto’s Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH).

The challenge was deeply personal.

“Mental health has affected me my whole life,” he said. “From a very young age, I had little issues that I didn’t realize were known as mental health issues.”

A journey that tested more than physical endurance

Running thousands of kilometres across the country meant facing physical exhaustion, isolation and a daily mental battle.

“I quit this run probably 50 times in my head, on the side of the road, but never actually followed it through,” Dininio recalled.

But what began as a test of endurance gradually became something much bigger.

Along the way, strangers joined him for stretches of the journey, offering encouragement and companionship. Others stopped to share their own experiences with mental health, sometimes opening up about deeply personal and painful struggles.

Dininio said listening to those stories was both moving and emotionally overwhelming. At first, he struggled with the weight of what people were sharing with him.

Those encounters eventually changed how he viewed the purpose of his run.

More than $50,000 raised for CAMH

By the time Dininio reached the Pacific coast, his journey had raised more than $50,000 for CAMH, one of Canada’s leading mental health research and treatment institutions.

But he says the impact of the conversations he had along the way became more meaningful than the money raised.

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“I lost interest in the actual fundraising part, not lost interest, but the fundraising didn’t matter once I realized how many people I was actually reaching,” he said. “And that was worth more than any dollar amount.”

For Dininio, the experience reinforced the importance of talking openly about mental health and creating spaces where people feel comfortable sharing their struggles.

Finding purpose beyond the finish line

Now back home in Ontario, Dininio is adjusting to everyday life after nearly five months on the road.

While he continues to process the experience, he hopes the message behind his journey will resonate long after the running has stopped.

“One of the primary things when we deal with mental health issues is that we feel so alone,” he said. “And I think we all need to know we are not alone. There is always someone willing to listen.”

For Dininio, the nearly 8,000 kilometres were never just about reaching the other side of Canada. They were about reminding people that, even in their most difficult moments, they don’t have to face their struggles alone.