Kathmandu, April 10 -- Every morning before the city wakes, Sanjiv Aryal runs a loop through Maharajgunj and out toward Chabahil. He has been doing this for nine years, ever since he collided with Ramkrishna Maharjan on a stretch of pavement near Panipokhari predawn. Back then, Aryal was running to lose weight. Maharjan, who was already well into his fifth decade of competitive running, barely broke stride.

That chance encounter reshaped Aryal's life, he says. The 45-year-old cargo trader now logs 80 kilometres a week, training for something called the World Marathon Majors - the six most prestigious road races on the planet: Tokyo, London, Boston, Chicago, New York, and Berlin. Runners in the circuit know them as the Golden Six, the equ...