I speak now as the only one on this board, and the only one I know, who legit competed sprints, and who has also done hundreds of 5k’s and 10k’s, dozens of full marathon distances, and once ran 100k.
Distance is only drudgery if you suck, or if you are unmotivated to challenge yourself and get better. Running yourself into pain in a 5k is not drudgery, it is effing heroic, like doing weights to failure. Running yourself into a near-coma trance over 25 miles is not drudgery, it is effing dreamy and ethereal.
ok the 100k sucked, but I was out to prove something.😁