When I said I generally completed all of the items Chris mentioned in the description for the merit badges (secretly noveling while at work or school, padding your word-count through nefarious means, experiencing a 5000-word day, abusing caffeinated beverages, and, ultimately, reaching 50K.)--I don't!
I just looked back at all of my NaNo spreadsheets for 2004, 2005, and 2006, the best I've done is 4,969 in one day--and that was way back in 2004. I'm sure I must have done 5K in one day back in 2003, but I wasn't keeping a spreadsheet back then. That was the year I started on November 3, took November 4 off, and then wrote 64K by November 24.
Anyway, Chris seems to think the merit badges will sell out quickly because of the quantities available, so even though I was on the fence about ordering them because, dude, they cost more than a t-shirt and are not the slightest bit practical, once I heard they may sell out and they're difficult to get back in stock, I ordered them.
So, me being me, must earn them all. So, at some point next month I need a 5K day. *gulp*
4,969 is pretty close to 5K.
So you just need to replicate that, then consume enough caffeine to get the rest of the words written. :)