The Elusive 200th Record

Recently, I set my 199th Guinness record (since setting my first record in 1979). My friends thought that I should do something special for number 200 and, while I would have preferred to keep the whole thing low-key, my pesky pals wouldn’t hear of it. Unfortunately, over time, they began to convert me to their point of view.

top_mile

Normally, I don’t do the records in any particular order, but now for number 200, I became picky. I had been training for a gymnastics record, but decided that it wasn’t joyful enough. On the other extreme, my friend Bipin and I had been practicing for the record for the most custard pies thrown in someone’s face from 10 feet away, something that was maybe too joyful-at least for me, maybe not for Bipin! There had to be something in between.

Then, the perfect event dawned on me. I would attempt to break my 200th by spinning an 11.5-foot diameter hula hoop the most times in a minute. It was fun and it was appropriate for a number of reasons. First, my 100th record also involved a giant hula hoop, a 16-foot hoop which was the world’s largest at the time. Second, the 11.5-foot hula record made sense because it was a worthy challenge. You see, I had been training to break this record for almost 2 years!

The record was set in 2006 by a Spanish woman who was able to spin the giant hoop 62 times in one minute. I saw a short clip of her attempt and, with flawless technique, she made it look easy. I was inspired to try. My technique, however, was not that great. I compensated by constantly whipping my body into the hoop to transfer energy from my abs and legs. Whereas the Spaniard’s style could be compared to that of a ballet dancer, I looked more like a bear trying to do the cha-cha!