Intervals and other types of speed work are essential to improve running speed.
Running with others can help get you out when you might otherwise blow it off.
A good athlete always mentally replays a competition over and over, even in victory, to see what might be done to improve the performance the next time.
I want my time spent running to serve as a reward.
Hills are speedwork in disguise.
For the novice runner, I'd say to give yourself at least 2 months of consistently running several times a week at a conversational pace before deciding whether you want to stick with it. Consistency is the most important aspect of training at this point.