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Things I would suggest. I'm a semi-retired runner who is looking to get back into the fold. I didn't run competitively, but as a training aspect for competitive soccer.
1. I found that listening to music helped a lot with the boredom of running. I know it's sort of a no-brainer, but at some point when I was in pretty decent shape the running bit was something I did while I listened to music. Some people seem to need to pick music that is similar to the pace they're trying to keep, i.e. if they had a slow blues tune they would slow down, faster music would speed them up. I didn't really have that problem. I listened to a lot of phish, bluegrass, and blues - anything I really enjoyed and could zone out to.
2. Consider a GPS watch when you get serious. I've had a couple of Garmins...it really was a lot simpler to be able to determine how far you're running, what your instaneous and average pace are...and not have to make a bunch of routes driving around in the car. When I was training for informal half-marathons, it saved me a lot of headaches.
3. Stretching. Absolutely. I generally adopt the stretches I was taught when playing highschool and club team athletics with yoga. Not only stretching before/after runs, but generally throughout the day. It can also relax tension.
4. Have multiple pairs of running shoes, and trade off. If you are training for 6 months, you can figure out roughly how many miles you'll burn through while training and adjust your shoe number and when you purchase them to make sure you're not going to be breaking in a new pair of shoes a week before your race.
5. Hydration and eating correctly. If you're going to be putting your body into "machine" mode, you need to feed it appropriately.
6. Give yourself a break on occasion. Pay attention to injury. Sometimes you can run through something...sometimes you're setting yourself up for a massive injury. I've ignored things like hamstring and groin pulls or tweaks, only to find that I've got a knot the size of my fist somewhere up near my ass that won't let me walk correctly. The other thing to remember is that distance running is entirely different from sprinting. If you're training for distance, you can seriously fuck yourself up going into a sprint workout or oriented game (like, I don't know...soccer) without training for that as well.
7. Build up slowly. In the short term I can probably struggle though a 6 or 8 mile run. A week later I'll feel it, and I couldn't keep it up without building. I've heard suggestions that your long run of the week shouldn't be more than 10% of your previous week's long run. I've fluctuated that a bit, but it's not a bad start.
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