The Third Annual BF5K

One of the biggest events of the winter for the past 3 years has been the annual BF5K.

The starting line. Photo by Emrys Hall.

It's a full 5K race held inside the station, organized by Kevin, whose nickname is BFK, for Big F*****g Kevin. The course starts in the Galley, runs out down the A1 stairs, down the hall to the end of the station, a distance of a football field. Then you go up the stairs in B2 and back up the hallway to the galley. Repeat that 17 more times and you have a distance of 5 kilometers.

The catch is all participants must wear a costume. Here's my team:

Sven, Robert, me, Brien and Bob on Team NASA. Photo by Emrys.

You'll have to think back a couple of months to a news event that was a juicy topic at most water coolers. We got our inspiration from the NASA astronaut who was apprehended on the way to allegedly do bad things to a lover's other flame. She was found wearing an adult diaper so that she wouldn't have to take pee breaks during her cross country drive, so we decided that would be a convenient way to run a race and use time more efficiently. We had a relay team of four, using a hammer as a baton to hand off, and Bob was our "sponsor". His duty was to drink a beer for every 3 laps that we completed. I didn't say that this race was of the conventional type.

There were some great costumes though.

Katie and Francie as Super Girl and Wonder Woman. Photo by Emrys.

Jason and Nick as redneck hunters stalking their prey, Lynette in a penguin costume. Photo by Robert Schwarz.


Neal made a dramatic entry, a la Hannibal Lector, wearing a real staight jacket that is part of our Medical inventory. He actually ran the entire race in that thing.





Nearly the entire crew showed up for the BF5K, either to run, sponsor or just watch the fun. There were no injuries, just some tired and sweaty runners and a few hangovers.