Your most valuable running advice

I don't think I've ever shared this here before, and I'm not sharing it now for sympathy. I'm doing it to explain some of the motivations for what I want to ask about.

I'm a Type 2 diabetic. I know I'm not alone, and I know that a large part of the responsibility for my situation sits squarely on my shoulders. I was dealt a pretty lousy hand by nature -- all the things that help lead to Diabetes run in my family. But I also did myself no favors by eating lousy food at late hours. And a lot of it.

For years I worked in the newspaper industry. That meant late nights at the office and late night stops at the drive thru. And when I ordered at those drive thrus I didn't just order a couple things. No, I ordered another full dinner. Burritos and cheeseburgers at midnight or later do your body no favors. That combined with a sedentary lifestyle led my weight to balloon. I was close to, if not over, 300 pounds for a while.

I don't have any proof, but I suspect that those years of eating four big meals a day -- including one as late as I was eating it -- and gaining a lot of weight accelerated my path down this course. My body became insulin resistant quicker. I got to my diagnoses of diabetic faster than I should have.

But that's where I am now. I have lost a lot of weight over the past few years, thanks in large part to Gina. Still, I take a lot of pills in the mornings. I don't want to take them anymore. So I've been trying to eat like they say I should and also trying to exercise. The food I feel pretty comfortable with. The exercise not as much.

I've chosen to start running. I'm actually enjoying it when I do it, something that's never happened to me before when it comes to running.

Thing is, I don't know anything about form or breathing or any of those things that would make me a better runner. I can search for the answer to those questions. Where you come in, though, I want to know from you runners all of the things that you wish'd you'd known before you started running What's something that someone should have told you? Help me out here.