On June 14, 64-year-old health coach Holly Reese completed 1,682 military-style pushups in one hour at West Berkeley's Finnish Hall — a number that would beat the women's Guinness World Record she once held twice. Guinness hasn't verified it yet.

West Berkeley's Finnish Hall went quiet on Sunday afternoon the moment Holly Reese stepped onto the mat. The crowd had been full of music and reunions up until then — old friends embracing, tables dressed in lavender — and then the 64-year-old health coach approached her position, and the counting began.

By the time it ended, Reese had completed 1,682 military-style pushups in one hour. That would beat the women's Guinness World Record by more than 100 — a record she once held, lost, and, on June 14, nine days after her 64th birthday, attempted to reclaim.

Guinness hasn't certified it. That could take months. The attempt was logged, filmed from two camera angles, and witnessed by a specialist judge per the organization's protocol. Reese is weighing whether to pay for expedited review. "It's a little stressful because we can't screw it up," said Ali Stoddard, her friend and one of the judges on Sunday.

The record has a Bay Area history behind it. On Aug. 19, 2023, at 61, Reese became the first woman to earn a Guinness World Record for pushups in an hour — 1,036 reps at DJ's Martial Arts and Fitness in Oakland. A month later, she set a new personal mark of 1,207 at Unity of Walnut Creek. The following year, 59-year-old Canadian grandmother DonnaJean Wilde topped her with 1,575. Sunday's 1,682, if certified, would break Wilde's mark by 107.

Reese's connection to Berkeley goes back decades. After graduating from MIT with a degree in electrical engineering, she moved to the Bay Area, bought a house in Berkeley in 1987, and played rugby for the Berkeley All Blues. She left tech for health work — earning a master's in acupuncture and oriental medicine at what is now the Acupuncture and Integrative Medicine College in Berkeley — and now coaches clients from her Pinole home, which doubles as a gym.

She is her own trainer. She exercises six days a week, eats oatmeal, pho, and supplements with nitric oxide for blood circulation and Chinese herbs for joint recovery. She has had a hip replacement and survived a rare autoimmune disorder that attacked her connective tissue. She holds two black belts.

Berkeleyside's Hope Muñoz, who covered the attempt, reported that Reese's method inside Finnish Hall was metronomic: sets of 13 pushups, then 14, falling back on her knees between each set to stretch and breathe. "Leaping out there again and again and again when you're getting more and more exhausted — that's the really hard part," Reese said.

If Guinness confirms the count, she'll have held the women's record three times, each mark set at a different East Bay venue. The lavender tablecloths are gone from Finnish Hall now. The result is still pending.