Nah, you did fine. I overstated things a bit. Loads of people with early 96s have fired many, many thousands of rounds with no issues, but the guns will definitely be more sensitive to poor maintenance than later editions.
Replace the recoil spring straightaway, and, like amd said, put in a
third-generation locking block if it doesn't have one already. If it doesn't have the third-gen. block, you can get a
locking block kit from Beretta USA. Recommended replacement interval for third-gen. blocks is every 15K rounds. This kit includes a recoil spring, but it's for full-size models, whereas yours is a Centurion; you can get the factory-standard 14-lb. Centurion replacement springs from
Wolff. If you're not going to use this pistol as a CCW or home-defense weapon, you could also buy some inexpensive
Wilson Combat Shok-Buffs (or if you
are going to use this as a defensive weapon, you could just use the buffer at the range and take it out afterward to eliminate any potential reliability concerns). This will definitely help reduce the wear on the pre-reinforcement frame. Apply some grease to the aluminum frame rails to protect the anodizing (do this with
any aluminum-framed gun) and to the area of the frame that guides and arrests the locking block, and you'll be in good shape. There are many different kinds available, from Shooter's Choice
synthetic grease to Brian Enos'
Slide-Glide to Wilson's
Ultima Lube II Grease, and many others, any of which will do the job.
Congrats, and enjoy!
Edit: One last thing. If you're going to rely on the gun for self-defense, you should replace the trigger return spring as well (very cheap, and also available from Wolff). The one in the gun is probably the one it shipped with, and Beretta significantly strengthened the design of the spring around 2001.