Jonathan and I got the 30-second version of the record and now it’s time for the 1-minute variant.

As any kid can tell you, it’s not all that hard to catch a beach ball. It becomes much hard when trying to do it blindfolded. It’s not going to hurt if you don’t catch it but it’s not going to count for a Guinness World Records title unless you can do it 35 times in one minute.

The most critical aspect of this record was Jonathan and I being in sync and having the timing down so I knew exactly when the ball was going to reach my hands so I could squeeze to catch it. A moment too soon and I would could my hands before the ball could land and a moment too late and it would hit me in the face which would disqualify the catch (can’t touch anything but the hands).

The previous record was 32 blind beach ball catches in one minute and we finally got 35. Our witnesses weren’t super excited when we finally got it since it took so long. Jonathan, however, was excited and challenged others to break the record in a 2 v 2 competition.

This was one of the most physically demanding records I’ve ever broken. Practicing under exact conditions was impractical if not impossible.

It also required a ridiculous inventory of t-shirts. 

The previous record for the most t-shirts worn for a half marathon was 82. I’ve had this on my list for a couple of years (first practice run Oct 2020) but I finally put on 10 t-shirts, 7 jackets, and a winter coat to see if I could not overheat while running. I got hot and sweated off a ton of water which gave me enough confidence to dig out my stash of t-shirts. That’s when I realized I had underestimated their weight. The jackets were enough to make me hot, but the t-shirts were much heavier. I then started adding a backpack with three 10-pound weight plates in them. The final touch was a Camelback worn on my front to provide hydration and a little weight balance from the backpack on the back.

Overheating was my biggest concern. I was sure I could build up the strength and stamina to finish the half marathon, but if I got heat stroke, it would be over. As luck would have it we had a cold, wet spring and most of my strenuous training runs took place in 30-40 degree temperatures and it was either raining or snowing. Weather conditions like those on race day would be critical to success.

In addition to hoping for cool weather, I got a couple of spray bottles I froze half with ice to have the witnesses accompanying me spray my head, arms, and legs down to provide evaporative cooling. The last measure I had in place was 2 large ice packs ready to shove up the shirts about 7 layers off the skin to attempt to ward off heatstroke. It was a cool rainy day and I didn’t end up needing them.

I also had to have help with putting the t-shirts on and taking them off. Once I have about 25 shirts on, the physical mobility of my arms is so restricted, that I physically can’t put any more on.

At the start, it took nearly 25 minutes for a team of 3 to get me fully dressed and almost the same amount of time to get them off at the end. Huge thank you to Patrick, Michael, and Becky!) 

To qualify as a record under Guinness rules the half marathon needed to be completed in under 3 hours. I was shooting for 12-minute miles to give myself a little buffer and am glad I had it because I had several miles that ended up being over 13 minutes.

My official finish time was 2:47:55. Only 12 minutes to spare.

Besides the heat, I had to deal with the feeling of claustrophobia since I’m wrapped in 111 t-shirts that I can’t physically take off myself. I can’t move my arms, I can barely move my head. And if for some reason I was to get claustrophobic, not only would it take 30 minutes to get them off, I couldn’t even remove a single shirt by myself without help. It would be a nightmare for someone with severe claustrophobia. My right arm was also super sore from being pulled out from my body by 222 layers underneath my arm.

The bigger issue that I didn’t come across until I did a practice with 99 t-shirts was the circulation loss in my hands. With 111 t-shirts on it was bad. My arms lost circulation and after a couple of hours my hands swelled to what felt like twice the size, my normally loose wedding ring was a constricted ring, and I couldn’t even touch my thumb across my hand.

There was also a ton of stress along the spine that resulted in my back cramping up pretty severely about 9 miles in.  And none of that considers the extra stress on my legs from the 40+ extra pounds I carried while running 13.1. It almost doesn’t even make mentioning the 1-inch blister directly on my right arch worth it, but that would usually be a major story for a run since arch blisters are rare and painful. 

It’s not too often that I have real fear for my health and safety for a record attempt. I prepare, I practice, and I don’t take unnecessary risks. But a running chainsaw is an unstable object and the blade isn’t nearly far enough from my face for comfort.

If a running lawnmower falls off my chin it could either tip or slip off. If it tips the blades are far from my face and hands. If it slips the top of the lawnmower protects me. With a chainsaw, I have no such luxury on either account. If it tips the blade is right there where my hands want to be and if it slips off my chin the blade would come right for my face.

I tried this record a couple of times before I officially broke it but I was still terrified each time. I wore a helmet, gloves, a thick jacket, a neck gator, and long pants but I still felt vunerable.

The minimum mark set by Guinness World Records for this title was 10 meters. No one had apparently had the gumption or perhaps gall to break or possibly even attempt it before. I’m glad I have this one behind me and in the books.

The Radio Show hosts should have fun with this one. Some records are easier than others. This one is hard to judge. It’s one person throwing a beach ball and another catching it. How hard could it be?

The catch is that the person catching it is blindfolded. Once you put the blindfold on it becomes far more complicated. It’s hard to judge just how hard the record is until you’ve tried it yourself with the blindfold on. When is the ball coming and where is it going to land? When do you squeeze your hands to grasp it? A split second too early and the ball will simply bounce off your hands and a split second too late and it will hit you on the chest. It’s also worth noting that Guinness requires the ball hit nothing but the hands for a catch to count. If it hits the body or the head the catch is disqualified. This rule dramatically increases the difficulty level. The thrower and the catcher need to be in sync.

Finally, the ball has to be lifted above the head to demonstrate it has been fully caught. The previous record was 16 catches in 30 seconds. Jonathan and I completed 18. We had so many practice runs and official attempts over the days that I lost count.

Good luck to the radio hosts that try to break it or talk about how easy they think it would be!

I finally reclaimed this record I first broke in 2017. When I put the lawnmower on my chin at the Cradlepoint partner summit the first time, the record stood at just over 5 minutes. When I took it off, the new record was 5 minutes 32 seconds.

That mark was surpassed so in 2019 I used a powered lawnmower with the engine off to attempt this record but it was disqualified because Guinnesses decided the non-powered category had to be a non-powered lawnmower, not just a mower not powered on.

That 9 minutes 15 seconds was surpassed anyway so this time I had to beat 13 minutes 7 seconds to reclaim the record.

My stretch goal was 17 minutes and my mega-goal was 20. The first 13 minutes were very painful but when I got to about 15 minutes, while still incredibly painful, I went into the zone. The world seemed to fade away and I felt like I could go longer than I previously thought possible.

When Michael from Guinness awarded me the certificate on the TODAY Show I felt an enormous sense of pride knowing I had achieved more than I previously thought was possible.

I had the immense honor of getting to reclaim a Guinness World Records title in New York City at the ABC Studios on the Tamron Hall Show.

The theme of the show was people who were going for it and Tamron and her crew thought I did in 2021 by breaking 52 Guinness World Records titles in 52 weeks to promote STEM education.

I previously held this record when I got 133 stuck in one minute beating the previous record of 83 (and 61 by Dude Perfect before that). My record was beaten by a run of 140. Since this was on national TV (that was live to taped) with an adjudicator on site, I decided I’d better figure out the most efficient want to do this and practice enough so I had some margin to spare. Even though I practiced dozens of times, I don’t think I ever got more than 180 in a single practice, that’s what I got on the show and it’s now the new official mark.

I just got a little bit nervous but was able to stay focused and finish strong after a blazing fast start.

Then the adjudicator announced the results. We wanted to do it fast since the show was on a tight schedule so I suggested the subtraction method from the 210 thumbtacks we started with so she only had to count 30 – note the one I picked up from the floor to ensure the count was accurate). I was then presented the certificate and got to take it home with me.

It was only fitting that for my first work trip in two years we attempted the Guinness World Records title for the most fist bumps in one minute (with different people) – the official greeting of the pandemic. It was at the Cradlepoint partner conference in Nashville, TN.

This record was a logistical challenge. The previous record was 123 people. The conference room was large and I would need to bump more than 2 fists per second to break the record. How could I get a line of people that long in a room? I ended up moving tables around to make sure I had a lane to run and found a way to wind all the folks around to make it happen.

After practicing with everyone and specific instructions on how to hold their fists and loud 3, 2, 1 go I took off. I had to provide slow-motion footage of each fist bump to I had GoPros in front and behind to make sure I got the shots for each bump.

I ended up making it through all 157 people in the room with less than 2 seconds to spare. I made contact with every fist but Guinness has particular rules about how each bump needs to be knuckle to knuckles and not just a brush so we disqualified 5 of them for a submitted count of 152 fist bumps in one minute.

My knuckles were red and on fire after the attempt. It’s 2 days later as I write this and my knuckles are still a little bruised and dry from making contact.

Thank you to all who participated at the Cradlepoint partner conference and an especial thank you to those who made it possible: Todd Kelly, Doug Bierman, Mike Hagman, Paul Rodeghiero, Stoney Tuckness, Michael Dickens, David E., Zach Lane, Jessica Christie, Eric Purcell, Tony Ardueser, Dillon Lukehart, Roger Billings and some I’m forgetting!

It was a long time coming, but I finally took back the record for the furthest distance walked with a lawnmower balanced on the chin (non-powered).

The first time I broke this record I was pleased I walked 200 meters. It was broken with a 278-meter walk. I tried to take it back a couple of years ago but was disqualified since the powered lawnmower I was using, while turned off, was not deemed to qualify as “non-powered”.

This time I walked nearly 2.5 laps around the track for 993 meters. I was 7 meters short of 1 kilometer. I wish I could have finished those last 7 meters, but I’m happy with the result.

The TODAY show aired some footage from the record a couple of weeks ago so those who were paying attention may have seen this record post coming.