Over the past two or three years, I’ve had the great pleasure of speaking to some pretty damn awesome people. Thanks to my work for the San Francisco Marathon and volunteering for Inside Trail Racing, I got to follow and write about Mike Wardian’s trans-continental run, meet and chat with Dean Karnazes, as well as interview some beautifully (extra)ordinary people.

Today, I’d love you to meet three of these people; Jonathan Sockolosky who, through his running, brings awareness and raises funds for breast cancer research; Cal Calamia, a trans athlete who works tirelessly to open the world of running truly to everyone, and Martinus Evans who helps people of all shapes and sizes live a healthier and more active life.

---

Jonathan Sockolosky

“What a loaded question! Who is Jonathan Sockolosky…?”

It might have been an unfair thing to ask Jonathan right off the bat, Who is Jonathan Sockolosky? After all, there are many ways to define oneself.

• Defined by his work, Jonathan is a scientist at Genentech, working in antibody engineering and large molecule drug discovery. He focuses on early research to help develop drugs that treat cancer.
• Defined by his hobbies, he’s a runner, a dedicated marathoner.
• Defined by what he does in between his work and running, he is a man who loves his mother and who cares deeply for those around him. Having raised over $100,000 for ovarian cancer research, he’s changing the world for many.

---

Cal Calamia

There’s a saying: a jack of all trades is a master of none. What most people don’t know is that there’s a second half to that saying that completely changes its meaning: a jack of all trades is a master of none but oftentimes better than a master of one.” San Francisco’s Cal Calamia is a great example of this full-version jack.

Calamia is a runner, a poet, a social justice advocate, a non-profit co-founder and owner, a public high school Health and Spanish teacher, and, as of recently, a Janji athlete. This might sound like a lot, which is why Calamia took another stab at their introduction:

“Wind it back; I’m Cal Calamia… I’m a lot of things, but among all these, I think what I am most is a connector.”

---

Martinus Evans

When his doctor told him to “lose weight or die,” he bought his first pair of running shoes and headed straight to a gym. He immediately fell off the treadmill. Still, he became a runner on the same day.

Nowadays, one of Evans’s biggest goals is to inspire 1 million people to start running. His journey alone has already motivated many; Evans, however, increased his impact on the communities he’s a part of by creating a run club and publishing a book that’s aimed to help new people step into the sport. Meet Martinus Evans, the founder of the Slow AF Run club, a runner, a published author, and a “real complex man.”