Boil 45 minutes?

I'm cooking the beets as we speak - most recipes I found called for 45+ minutes boiling time. But they smell really good, so we'll see. Once they're boiled, I'll toss them with olive oil, garlic, vinegar, and salt, an idea which came from Recipezaar. I noticed that most beet recipes have some sour element, usually vinegar; that must be to cut the sweetness. It's weird to boil something for 45 minutes. Even weirder is going to be having a dinner of vegetarian meatballs, brown rice, and beets, which is what my dinner is shaping up to be. These cupboards are pretty bare.