There I was, at 1:30 p.m. at St. Paul’s Saigon restaurant, staring at an enormous half-eaten bowl of pho. Should I keep eating or cut bait? I glanced at co-owner Lysa Bui, who looked at me with pity in her eyes.

Pitting diners against massive bowls of the Vietnamese beef noodle soup is a regular occurrence at Saigon. The restaurant started offering the pho challenge as a means to bring back customers when it reopened at its new location last year.

The reward: Winners get their soup free and a T-shirt proclaiming, “I am the pho-king.” Losers pay $15 for their soup. Of the 500 customers who have tried, only 120 have left victorious — and almost all are Asian men.

“It’s like eating five or six bowls of regular pho,” warned Bui, when I sat down to take the challenge.

She then went on to explain the rules: The soup has to be finished within 45 minutes; no bathroom breaks are allowed; and getting sick at the table is instant disqualification. Oh, and by the way, the record time to date — 9 1/2 minutes — was set by an Asian guy who couldn’t have weighed more than 130 pounds.

“White guys think they can finish because they’re big,” Bui said. “But Asians know noodles.”

Having eaten hundreds of bowls of pho on St. Paul’s University Avenue, starting as a kid, the thought of sitting down to 10 pounds of soup in a competitive setting didn’t seem like such a big deal. I was fairly confident I could finish all the meat and the noodles — contestants don’t have to finish the broth. Besides, I thought it would be cool to be only the second white guy to finish and make it onto Saigon’s Facebook pho wall of fame.

On the big day, out came a steaming bowl of soup filled with rice noodles and the usual cuts of beef — tripe, tendon, well-done flank steak and rare roast beef. The soup also came with the usual lime wedges, fresh basil, bean sprouts and sliced jalapeno peppers that could be added, but I decided to pass on those condiments. Ten pounds of soup was plenty.

Bui had prepared me for what to expect, but I was still stunned by the bowl’s size — it easily could have doubled as a lifeboat. I had eaten a light dinner the night before and had toast and coffee for breakfast to prepare my stomach. Bad idea. One of the tips Bui shared was to eat big the morning of the challenge to stretch the stomach.

Still, I was raring to go. The first few bites — huge masses of noodles and beef pinched by plastic chopsticks — went down easily. I kept eating and eating, and broth splashed everywhere as I slurped, no holds barred.

After 15 minutes, the noodles were, at best, only half gone, and most of the meat was still in the bowl. My stomach was beginning to feel queasy as I picked at a small piece of brisket and sipped a soda. I decided it might be in my best interest to move around a bit, so I got up and walked the length of the dining room. It only made me feel worse.

There were still 20 minutes left on the clock when I sat down again. Try as I might, I couldn’t touch another bite and threw down my chopsticks. No T-shirt was worth dying over. (For the record, Bui said no one has ever sought medical attention after the challenge.)

Later, I found out there’s also a T-shirt for the defeated (for an additional $5). It says: “I am a pho-king loser.”

I’ll take an extra large, please.

WAYS TO WIN

A few days before the challenge, eat larger portions so your stomach will expand and keep it up until the pho slurping starts.

Cool the broth with ice; the liquid doesn’t have to be consumed to finish.

Pace yourself so you don’t get too full too fast. You have 45 minutes.

Eat the noodles first so they don’t absorb any more liquid. — John Brewer

WHAT: Saigon restaurant

WHERE: 704 W. University Ave., St. Paul

PHONE: 651-225-8751

NOTE: Restaurant will be closed through Aug. 10.