Published on June 26, 2026 11:33 am
When Cal Calamia stepped to the starting line of the Tokyo Marathon last March, he had already won the New York Marathon and placed second in Chicago, Boston and Berlin. So the goal was clear: add another win, and take another step toward the six-star medal awarded to runners who complete all world major marathons. As she watched other anxious runners frolicking and getting in a few final stretches before the race, she kept her eyes on the competition, on the other non-binary athletes at the front of the pack.
By then the gun went off and the runners came out tokyo However, the roads calamia-Who uses they and has lost the pronoun -them. The start of the race was tense, as they wondered if they were in the right position for their goal. That is, until an out-and-back course provides a glimpse of their main rival.
“I felt like at this point in the race, all my time goals were slipping away, and I had one mission right now, and that was to be the guy to win this race,” says Calamia. “I really found a way to run up to them with confidence and run with that confidence and poise for as long as possible, so that when they look at me, they say, ‘There’s no way I’m going to catch Cal.’ And it worked.”
At the end of 26.2 miles, Calamia won, crossing the line in a time of 2:43:28. Just eight weeks later, he won the nonbinary division at the London Marathon, earning his six-star medal and moving one step closer to his goal of winning the nonbinary division at every World Major.
With his London performance, Calamia became the first person to compete in the nonbinary division at all six world major races. Now that Sydney and Cape Town have become world leaders, Calamia has his sights set on those two races as well. He is currently training to race the Sydney Marathon in August.
The advocacy of Kalamiya is a major reason why these divisions exist. Their work since 2022 has helped add a non-binary division to every world major, as well as help push races like last weekend’s Broken Arrow Skyrace. And while she’s proud of the work she’s done to allow trans and nonbinary athletes to compete as their authentic selves, her real focus goes beyond just the start line.
“I want to make the sport more inclusive, but I also really want to show up and compete,” says Calamia. “It’s not more inclusive if, ultimately, we’re just celebrating being invited to be there. I’ve definitely made a pivot and a shift in the last two years from focusing on trans and nonbinary inclusion to focusing on trans and nonbinary excellence.”
The 29-year-old runner moved to San Francisco in 2018 to work as a high school teacher and the transformation began soon after. Going through the transition process helped Calamia, who competes in cross-country for Saint Louis University, find a new relationship with running. And when he saw non-binary divisions begin to emerge at races like the Bay to Breakers in his adopted hometown, his competitive side was reawakened.
“I struggled a lot with identity and gender and running in college, feeling like I didn’t really know if there was a way for me to compete and still be my authentic self, so maybe this sport might not be for me,” says Calamia. “Once this little door cracked open, it brought to light the possibility that I could sign up as myself and still have a chance to get out there and compete against myself and eventually against a larger and growing field.”
So, he returned to training. VO2 max workouts during the week, long runs on the weekends. His first goal, when San Francisco’s streets were quiet during the pandemic, was to run a mile around his neighborhood in less than five minutes. On his first attempt, he sprinted down residential streets, and came up to the mile mark in… 5:01.
“Failing was an important part of that moment, because it was a reminder of how much work I’ve done athletically, emotionally, socially, in all these different ways to become the athlete and person I am,” says Calamia. “And how good it feels to be moving toward the goals I’ve set for myself.”
That single effort changed both his running and his mindset toward it. Returning to competitive running meant changing his lifestyle: getting more sleep, avoiding alcohol, eating a plant-based diet and working with a coach to develop a training plan. The next summer, Calamia ran a 4:46 mile around the park near her home and was ready for her next goal.
In July 2022, Calamia stepped to the starting line of the San Francisco Marathon to compete as a nonbinary marathoner for the first time. After a race of three hours and three seconds, they became the first winners of the nonbinary division of the race, and came very close to the sub-three barrier.
In the two years that followed, Calamia ran 2:41:59 at the 2024 Berlin Marathon, knocking off his marathon personal best by nearly 20 minutes. Competing as a nonbinary runner and receiving therapeutic use exemption from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) for testosterone taken as gender-affirming care has paved the way for other trans and nonbinary athletes to not only perform but challenge their personal limits.
“If none of this had happened, I very likely would have walked away from the sport,” says Calamia. “And if I had that experience, there were certainly a lot of other people who had that experience.”
These days, you can see Calamia working hard to lower his personal best and win the remaining World Majors. But when he’s not running intervals in Golden Gate Park or recovering from a Tuesday morning run with the running group he founded, the Non-Binary Run Club (NBRC), Calamia takes to the trails.
Instead of focusing on speed and heart rate, they focus on the visuals. A 20-mile run is less an intimidating obligation and more an opportunity to have breakfast in the woods with friends. Plus, in a political climate that has become more and more hostile to trans athletes, trail running is a much-needed escape.
“There’s a lot of conversation about who trans people are, who belongs where,” says Calamia. “When I go out on the trails, I’m just on this mountain with this tree. I’m just breathing this fresh air under this beautiful blue sky. I don’t even know what y’all are talking about. I can’t hear you. I don’t have service.”
In addition to the healing that comes with spending time in nature, Calamia has proven to be a fierce competitor in ultramarathon-distance trail races. At last October’s Javelina Jundred 100K, Calamia finished fourth overall, just 22 minutes behind the race leader. This coming October, he plans to return to racing, this time covering a distance of 100 miles.
“In my experience, my fastest performance has come from a long runway of concentration on what race I want to compete in and what outcome I’m expecting,” says Calamia, “and really building my life around my own athletic goals.”
In Calamia’s ever-evolving relationship with running, curiosity sits side by side with competition. In marathons the desire for PR coexists with the desire to find a new path. His identity as a runner has been destroyed and reborn, and still changes every time he laces up his running shoes.
“On the one hand, it’s about pushing what I know I’m capable of and being curious to learn more about it,” says Calamia. “And then on the other hand, knowing that what I’m discovering is opening up new avenues for other people so that I don’t have to feel the way I felt, ‘I feel like I don’t have my game down anymore.'”
