Admittedly, this may be old news by now but I was curious and couldn't find answers online...
Before NY marathon there was lots of hoopla about "Born to Run" author Chris McDougall running NY marathon barefoot. The NY Times gave him guest blog (links below) and he got loads of media attention.
McD talked about his plans to run barefoot on The Imus show show a few days before marathon. The only question seemed to be whether he would run whole race barefoot or partially in sandals.
Then silence.
McDougall doesn't appear in official results (his barefoot running pal Prof Dan Lieberman is listed as finishing in 4:19). McDougall blogged extensively about NYM before race but his blog makes no mention of it afterwards. Some readers responded to NYT article by asking how he did, but the moderator ignored that question even though she did respond to other reader questions. None of media outlets that showered him with attention bothered to follow up.
Hmmm.
Possible explanations:
1. McD tried to run 26 miles on pavement in minimalist footware but had to drop out due to injury and has kept quiet about DNF because it flies in face of his claim about staying injury free ever since he switched to running barefoot.
2. He did not start. If so, getting all the media attention beforehand seems a bit disingenuous.
3. He ran under some kind of VIP number and didn't get recorded in official results.
NYT blog:
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/04/born-to-run-the-marathon/
Imus show:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95g40aU8Gww
I throw the question to the crowd: what happened to the hyped-up barefoot marathon and why the post-race silence?