Ben Potts: The Full Winter Spine Race

This week on Trails, Tales & Fails, we’re joined by Ben Potts — ultra runner, friend, and fresh off an incredible 12th-place finish at the Full Spine.

The Full Spine is one of the toughest endurance races on the planet: 268 miles/431km, 10,700m+ of elevation, winter conditions, sleep deprivation, and relentless forward motion. Ben takes us inside the race — how he prepared, how he managed fatigue over multiple days, the mental battles that matter most, and what events like the Spine and Dragon’s Back teach you about yourself when you’re pushed to the edge.

We talk training, decision-making under extreme fatigue, lessons learned from multi-day ultras, and what draws runners back to these brutal challenges again and again.

As always, we finish with our usual icebreakers, truth-or-lie, and a quickfire round.

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