I lucked out in that I had sold another property that had considerable equity in it....I was able to sell that and use as a sizeable downpayment. So I was basically starting with only a 50% mortgage.

But yes, for that 10 years or so I paid like triple monthly mortgage payments, using all spare cash to drive down the principle as fast as possible. This is why I say it would've probably been "smarter" to invest that instead paying down a cheap mortgage, but mentally it was important for me to be debt-free.