diff --git a/node.go b/node.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..67611bd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/node.go
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+package cmd
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"strings"
+
+	"github.com/virtual-kubelet/virtual-kubelet/providers"
+	"github.com/virtual-kubelet/virtual-kubelet/version"
+	v1 "k8s.io/api/core/v1"
+	metav1 "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1"
+)
+
+var (
+	// vkVersion is a concatenation of the Kubernetes version the VK is built against, the string "vk" and the VK release version.
+	// TODO @pires revisit after VK 1.0 is released as agreed in https://github.com/virtual-kubelet/virtual-kubelet/pull/446#issuecomment-448423176.
+	vkVersion = strings.Join([]string{"v1.13.1", "vk", version.Version}, "-")
+)
+
+// NodeFromProvider builds a kubernetes node object from a provider
+// This is a temporary solution until node stuff actually split off from the provider interface itself.
+func NodeFromProvider(ctx context.Context, name string, taint *v1.Taint, p providers.Provider) *v1.Node {
+	taints := make([]v1.Taint, 0)
+
+	if taint != nil {
+		taints = append(taints, *taint)
+	}
+
+	node := &v1.Node{
+		ObjectMeta: metav1.ObjectMeta{
+			Name: name,
+			Labels: map[string]string{
+				"type":                   "virtual-kubelet",
+				"kubernetes.io/role":     "agent",
+				"beta.kubernetes.io/os":  strings.ToLower(p.OperatingSystem()),
+				"kubernetes.io/hostname": name,
+				"alpha.service-controller.kubernetes.io/exclude-balancer": "true",
+			},
+		},
+		Spec: v1.NodeSpec{
+			Taints: taints,
+		},
+		Status: v1.NodeStatus{
+			NodeInfo: v1.NodeSystemInfo{
+				OperatingSystem: p.OperatingSystem(),
+				Architecture:    "amd64",
+				KubeletVersion:  vkVersion,
+			},
+			Capacity:        p.Capacity(ctx),
+			Allocatable:     p.Capacity(ctx),
+			Conditions:      p.NodeConditions(ctx),
+			Addresses:       p.NodeAddresses(ctx),
+			DaemonEndpoints: *p.NodeDaemonEndpoints(ctx),
+		},
+	}
+	return node
+}
diff --git a/root.go b/root.go
index 32b8cf6..4e10a0f 100644
--- a/root.go
+++ b/root.go
@@ -74,6 +74,7 @@ var apiConfig *apiServerConfig
 var podInformer corev1informers.PodInformer
 var kubeSharedInformerFactoryResync time.Duration
 var podSyncWorkers int
+var enableNodeLease bool
 
 var userTraceExporters []string
 var userTraceConfig = TracingExporterOptions{Tags: make(map[string]string)}
@@ -94,11 +95,22 @@ This allows users to schedule kubernetes workloads on nodes that aren't running
 
 		defer rootContextCancel()
 
+		pNode := NodeFromProvider(rootContext, nodeName, taint, p)
+		node, err := vkubelet.NewNode(
+			vkubelet.NaiveNodeProvider{},
+			pNode,
+			k8sClient.Coordination().Leases(corev1.NamespaceNodeLease),
+			k8sClient.CoreV1().Nodes(),
+			vkubelet.WithNodeDisableLease(!enableNodeLease),
+		)
+		if err != nil {
+			log.G(rootContext).Fatal(err)
+		}
+
 		vk := vkubelet.New(vkubelet.Config{
 			Client:          k8sClient,
 			Namespace:       kubeNamespace,
-			NodeName:        nodeName,
-			Taint:           taint,
+			NodeName:        pNode.Name,
 			Provider:        p,
 			ResourceManager: rm,
 			PodSyncWorkers:  podSyncWorkers,
@@ -118,9 +130,18 @@ This allows users to schedule kubernetes workloads on nodes that aren't running
 		}
 		defer cancelHTTP()
 
-		if err := vk.Run(rootContext); err != nil && errors.Cause(err) != context.Canceled {
-			log.G(rootContext).Fatal(err)
-		}
+		go func() {
+			if err := vk.Run(rootContext); err != nil && errors.Cause(err) != context.Canceled {
+				log.G(rootContext).Fatal(err)
+			}
+		}()
+
+		go func() {
+			if err := node.Run(rootContext); err != nil {
+				log.G(rootContext).Fatal(err)
+			}
+		}()
+		<-rootContext.Done()
 	},
 }
 
@@ -192,6 +213,7 @@ func init() {
 	RootCmd.PersistentFlags().MarkDeprecated("taint", "Taint key should now be configured using the VK_TAINT_KEY environment variable")
 	RootCmd.PersistentFlags().StringVar(&logLevel, "log-level", "info", `set the log level, e.g. "trace", debug", "info", "warn", "error"`)
 	RootCmd.PersistentFlags().IntVar(&podSyncWorkers, "pod-sync-workers", 10, `set the number of pod synchronization workers`)
+	RootCmd.PersistentFlags().BoolVar(&enableNodeLease, "enable-node-lease", false, `use node leases (1.13) for node heartbeats`)
 
 	RootCmd.PersistentFlags().StringSliceVar(&userTraceExporters, "trace-exporter", nil, fmt.Sprintf("sets the tracing exporter to use, available exporters: %s", AvailableTraceExporters()))
 	RootCmd.PersistentFlags().StringVar(&userTraceConfig.ServiceName, "trace-service-name", "virtual-kubelet", "sets the name of the service used to register with the trace exporter")