EXCLUSIVE Meet the running-obsessed Liverpool cult hero who ran a marathon on a treadmill on CHRISTMAS DAY and completed a 24-hour challenge without training - as star shows off remarkable body transformation

For former Liverpool defender John Arne Riise, the unrelenting search for athletic greatness didn't end when he hung up his boots back in 2016.
His drive to compete on the biggest stage in the beautiful game may have dissipated, but as an elite athlete, the motivation to challenge yourself both physically and mentally never goes away.
It's not as easy as turning off the competitive switch in your brain. Yes, athletes retire, but the fire is always in their bellies to push athletic boundaries and satisfy their desires to be the best. It's a high that the cut above will always crave.
That's certainly the case when it comes to Riise, at least. In football, he reached the pinnacle by winning the Champions League in 2005 in the most miraculous way possible.
The sense of achievement after lifting Ol' Big Ears is simply unmatchable - it's what every professional footballer dreams of as a youngster - but 20 years on from the fateful day in Istanbul, the former Norway international has found another way to fulfill his yearning for the feeling of athletic accomplishment.
Riise, who played 348 times across seven years on Merseyside, has traded his football boots for running shoes. The 44-year-old now pushes his body and brain to the limits, even more so than on the football pitch, through the means of extreme challenges.
'For me, the physical and mental toughness is harder in the running,' Riise tells Mail Sport.
Believe it or not, this is Riise's response to being asked to compare 'Miracle of Istanbul' to his recent remarkable running challenge.
A gruelling 120 minutes against an AC Milan team, who were widely considered unbeatable in 2005, in a Champions League final wasn't as challenging as 24 hours on a treadmill.
No, you are not hallucinating. In February, Riise took part in a charity running event in which had to complete 24 hours on a treadmill, only taking short breaks to go to the toilet. It's hard to imagine that feeling of getting off it at the end of it all.
What's even more impressive is that Riise was one of only four competitors to complete the challenge entirely on his own. The majority taking part were relay teams, with runners taking on segments before switching.
The ex-Red notched up an incredible 172km (106 miles) across a weekend in February. That's slightly over four marathons. Imagine that, running marathon, after marathon, all in the span of 24 hours. The thought of running just one is enough to frighten 99.99 per cent of the world's population, let alone four on the bounce.
It was all for a good cause. The aim of the event was to raise money for a mental health charity, with more than 250,000 Norwegian Krone (£17,850) brought together by the time it was finished.
For such an extreme challenge like that, you'd expect most runners to prepare properly with a training plan over roughly 12 or 16 weeks. Surely nobody is silly enough to just run having not trained.
Wrong. Riise managed to make what was already a mental challenge even harder for himself.
'I didn't train for it,' Riise continued. 'I didn't know what I went into. I just went up and ran. Walk, run, go to the toilet, break, and repeat.
'I was asked three weeks before if I wanted to join in for a couple of hours, and then I did the whole thing. The longest I [had] ran was two or three hours, so I didn't know what I was going into.
'In football, my body is used to it, I'd prepared for it, I'd trained for it, it was my thing. But running like that was not. It was so hard for my body and my muscles.
'I had a guy next to me, and we were four people who were running the whole thing, he came up to me and said, "Johnny, good news, we have run six hours now... bad news, we have 18 left".
'It was just killing me!
'If I do it again, I am going to go further because now I know what I am getting into. I know what is expected. I would like to do it again, I want to hit the 200km mark.'
While Riise didn't specifically train for the event, there was a good reason why he was still in good enough shape to complete it. His base fitness is through the roof, and that's because of the treadmill running he does throughout the year.
Riise was on Norwegian reality TV show '16 weeks of hell' where he was tested to the limit
Many people are not fans of treadmill running. There's nothing quite like exploring the outdoors.
Well, for Riise planting his feet on the tarmac doesn't quite provide as much of a mental challenge as smashing into a rubber belt for hours on end. Being at one with the running machine is something that the Norwegian does to push his limits.
He does this year-round, including on days when most of us couldn't fathom doing exercise. No holidays are off-limits.
'I love running. On Christmas Day, I woke up at 6am and did a marathon on the treadmill by myself,' Riise continues.
'I want to test myself mentally. Physically, I know I can run a marathon on a treadmill, but for me, it's more about being able to stand on that treadmill for three and a half hours, it's a mental toughness that I am trying to test myself.
'I had never done a marathon before, and I finished in three hours and 27 minutes.'
Riise almost looks in the same shape as he did during his glory days in red. He has always been known for his strong build - his power was what made him a star at Anfield, and these days it looks like he could still get the kit on and put in a shift.
However, it hasn't always been like that for Riise following retirement. In fact, his latest extreme challenge was the culmination of a weight loss journey that he has been on over the past 18 months.
Last year, Riise was one of six contestants in a Norwegian reality TV show titled '16 Weeks of Hell', which is a series where celebrities were pushed to their physical breaking point and underwent a strict diet to turn their fitness around.
The result of the show for Riise was a return to the shape he had always been while on the football pitch. 'I want to become a machine again,' Riise once said, and well, a machine he now is.
He has no intentions of slowing down either. The 44-year-old only wants to continue stomping, whether that be in races in which he can 'test myself', or back on the treadmill. Riise has a lot in the works, and has no intention of putting the pounds back on.
'I'm doing the Oslo Marathon in September, they asked, and I said yes again, stupidly,' he jokes.

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