2010 in Review: Another Kind of Ultra

My new "HTML5" license plates

Sorry about the lack of posts this year, but 2010 has been another kind of ultra marathon for me. As I mentioned at the end of 2009, it was time to write a book and this year, at the end of August, on my grandmother's birthday--my co-authors Brian, Frank, and I finally finished this massive project:

Pro HTML5 Programming is one of the first books about HTML5, which is the next major revision of HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) the language that all web pages--including this blog page--are written in. The HTML standard had not really been updated for 10 years, so it was due for a major update. HTML5 is really cool and it has many exciting and powerful features, some of which are starting to appear on web pages already.

Many people compare writing a book to running a marathon, but after finishing the book, I can honestly say I completely agree with Gretchen, who recently wrote (in a post about marathon metaphors): "Obviously, most authors don’t realize how easy running a marathon really is! Because, seriously? Finishing a book? Way, way harder."

As if writing the book itself was not enough (we wrote the book "on he side," on top of all our "regular" startup job work ), I also created a complete HTML5 training course based on the new knowledge gathered by writing the book and the timing for the course was just right. When the iPad was launched and Apple, Google, Mozilla, Opera, and even Microsoft (how often can those companies agree on anything?) decided that HTML5 was the future, the demand for HTML5 training skyrocketed, mainly, because our training course was, well... the first official training course in the world! We even partnered with Google to train their partners in preparation of the launch of the Google Chrome Web Store (featuring lots of cool HTML5-based web apps).

The rest of 2010, I spent traveling to all the corners of the earth--to cities like New York, London, Paris, Lisbon, Taipei, San Antonio, Vancouver, and Stockholm to name but a few--teaching training sessions and speaking at web conferences. In total, I traveled over 100,000 miles with United Airlines in just 6 months, stayed 97 nights at Hilton brand hotels and lots more at other chains, met lots of great people, and tried all kinds of great new food.

Apart from being away from home so much, I truly had a blast and look forward to visiting a lot more places in 2011. Next year, I will bring my running shoes. I hope to run into some of you somewhere along the way (Connect via LinkedIn or TripIt).

Since I had less running-related stories to tell (I did use some running examples in the book) and just less time to write period, I started posting more frequently on Twitter--you can follow me there at @peterlubbers. I am going to start training again in the new year and plan to be back in good shape for the Super Triple in September. Along the way, I'll keep you posted! For now I am enjoying a few weeks of relaxing vacation at home and in the snow with the kids.

Happy New Year everybody!