If you only want to fly once a year and you want to fly in first then you might as well pay for it. Of course paying for it could alternate between actually paying for it and using credit card accumulated points.

My suggestion is completely based on the fact that you seemed to imply that you only enjoy flying when you fly in the front.

If you hate flying in the back then mileage running isn't for you. I've never done a mileage run but if you read most of the posts on this board mileage runners love to fly. They enjoy the perks but they really actually love flying - and so far I'm not getting that vibe from you.

Going back to points, you can accumulate a lot of points through credit cards and promotions through the airline websites and partners.
You should keep you eye on sites like this one:
http://www.frequentflyerbonuses.com/

These types of sites post promotions for bonus points for pretty much all travel related clubs.

If you do decide to gear up and start doing mileage runs you should do your research and plan well in advance - figure out the annual mileage promos(many repeat every year), figure out the amount of miles you will actually need to fly(you don't want to get to december and discover you are short) and of course figure out your cost(if it turns out to be more than the cost of your first class ticket then you might as well not bother).

best of luck