Getting The Spirit

Yesterday was an 11 hour day at Spirit Mountain. I began playing at 12:30 and finished at nearly midnight. The 4/8 kill game was not particularly kind to me, with a small loss, so I signed up for the 7:00 tournament. It is a little bit of a strange format with a $30 buy-in with 500 chips, but if you are a "Coyote Club" member you get 100 extra and if you played at least 3 hours live you get 600 more. So, with an above average chip stack I started the tournament with 119 other players (I think around 30 alternates). I lost my entire chip stack early when I raised pre-flop on the button with jacks and was called from the blind with a 10/2 suited????? He flopped a 10 and one heart so naturally when he bet and I reraised all-in he called. The turn brought a two and I had to rebuy (did I forget to mention this was a dreaded re-buy tournament?) So, for another $20 I got a lousy 500 in chips while the blinds went up to 100/200. By the break I had $200 remaining but wait. At the break you are allowed to add-on 2000 for another $20 and 500 for a "dealer appreciation" add-on for $5. So, now I am in for $75. and short-stacked comparatively. There are a couple of guys at my table in for 3-4 rebuys each so I feel a little better. I do pick up some better cards, get them all-in with a caller twice and end up on the final two tables. In this format tournament the entire final table gets paid ($800 something) so I can smell the cash. I am relatively short stacked however and blinds at 1200-2400 with 300 antes and me with around 8000 in chips I pick up pocket 4's on the button with a giant stack in BB and one short stack (but not as short as me) limping in. I raise all-in and after some deliberation the shortstack calls with everyone else folding. I am very happy with his jack/queen offsuit (what was he thinking limping? Or calling?) but he catches a queen on the coinflip situation and I am out. Youch! In retrospect I am pretty happy with my play overall and really given the situation would not have played any other way. Just needed that bit of luck near the end.