Time to start the hand exercises again...

I feared this day might come and it looks like it has. In fact it looks like the day might have come twice this summer. It appears that my Guinness world record for "most high fives in an hour" has been broken. Twice. It all started a few weeks ago when someone mentioned that they had searched online for my world record and found plans for another high-five record attempt in Chicago. ComedySportz in Chicago was attempting to break my record:

After each and every performance of ComedySportz, our players line up and high five the audience on their way out of the theatre. It is a simple gesture of gratitude and camaraderie that has been a part of our show for over 23 years. In short, the High Five is part of our culture and now we will bring the "high-five culture" to the City of Big Shoulders. Especially with so much bad news permeating the headlines, we think this is exactly the kind of fun, positive event that Chicago needs.

The current record for 'Most high-fives in one hour (individual)' is held by Boaz Frankel (USA) who high-fived 408 people at the Pioneer Courthouse Square in Portland, Oregon on October 23, 2006. C'mon Chicago, we can do better than that!

It was honestly a little strange to be reading about myself in this context- as "the guy they wanted to beat." I emailed the ComedySportz guys to see how it went and apparently they beat my record by less than a hundred high fives though they were still waiting for verification from Guinness.

Then just a few days ago I heard about another attempt around Chicago at Hoffman Estates High School:

Hundreds of Hoffman Estates high school students slapped hands with their mascot, Flash, Friday afternoon in a bid to smack down the Guinness World Record for most high-fives in an hour.

The current record stands at 408 high-fives. Boaz Frankel set the record at Pioneer Courthouse Square in Portland, Ore., on October 23, 2006.

One by one students filed into the football field near the school, delivering a high five -- no underhands, down lows or fistbumps allowed -- to a purple lightning bolt standing outside.

The final tally in the school's effort: 1,363 in one hour.

That's three times as many high fives as I got! That's just over 20 high fives a minute. It looks like I've got my work cut out for me.

I'm already starting to think about my next record re-breaking attempt. In order to high five all those people I'll have to do plan it at a sporting event or parade or something like that. Stay tuned for details...