I think it happens to the best of us. You have the encounter that takes too long, a skill challenge that ends up frustrating the players, or a roleplay element that leaves a couple party members with no important role to play. Sometimes the folks at the table are just wiped out from their adventures in real life. Either way, the session is bogging down and your players are not having fun.
Here are a few suggestions on how to avoid bogging down a game and how to bring your players back into the action if they’re drifting off.
Make smaller fights against tougher enemies
A massive battle looks cool on paper, but the actual implementation is not quite so heroic. You leave the players stalled while you set-up the encounter and get ready to juggle a logistical nightmare of HP and initiative. When the fight actual starts, the players are also stuck waiting a long time for their turn while 20 pike wielding kobolds surge across the battlefield.
The battle will be better if you reduce the number of enemies on the battlefield and condense the challenge into four or five tougher monsters. It’s less work for the GM and the players won’t zone out if they know their turn is coming up quickly.
If you want the aesthetic appeal of players taking on a great army, consider changing six individual enemies into a singular enemy mob. Just up the size category, throw on an aura effect, and you’ve got a squad of enemy soldiers that are easier to manage and won’t bog down your combat.
Give a bit of direction
Nothing is worse in a game than the players just floundering without a clue about what to do next. They could be stuck on a riddle that they can’t solve or be unsure about their next move against the forces of evil.
You’re not rail-roading the players if you’re helping them reach their goal. Have an NPC drop a hint, or make particularly intelligent or wise characters make an ability check to know the “best” course of action. Don’t forget your rituals as well. There are a handful of useful plot moving rituals in the PH, such as Consult Mystic Sages or Hand of Fate.
Be more descriptive
Telling players they fail a climb check is dull and frustrating. Nobody is going to leave the session going on about, “that time I failed the climb check.” Mix it up and be creative with the description. The player not only fails the climb check but falls on an ally in a humorous way or lands in a pile of odorous cave fungi.
Do this as often as possible in combat as well. Describe the sound of swords on armor. Natural 20s aren’t just about maximum damage, they’re also about fabulously executed attacks and gushing blood.
Involve everyone
Never make an encounter (even one where no sword is drawn) about just a couple players in the party. Everyone should have a part to play in the plot. One of the PCs might be bent on revenge for the death of her father, but that doesn’t mean the other PCs have an incentive to follow along.
Sprinkle every motivation with something everyone will want. The most common and easiest plot device is treasure. Everyone likes treasure, and even the least noble of the party members can be convinced to act for the greater and wealthier good.
Get feedback
This is probably the best thing you can do for any game. Your table is a two-way street. Ask what your players want to see in their next game session and deliver. You don’t have to give up your epic and fantastic plot, but you should include all the elements your players are looking for.
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I started Dungeon Mastering with secondhand AD&D materials in 1996 and have run a vast number of D20 campaigns, from cliche' medieval adventures in a kingdom made of Lego bricks to fighting zombies and the mob in the mid 1930s. I try to make the gaming experience as enjoyable, fast-paced, and easy to play as humanly possible. 
I agree with smaller fighter against tougher foes. As GM, you already have quite a few things to keep track off. Through a bunch of foes out there and your likely to be ready to hurt yourself by slamming your head into the table, just to make the pain go away.
It’s not just the number crunching that give smaller battles a faster pace, but also the ratio of player turns to NPC turns. At most, I don’t think the players should have to wait more than 10 turns before they get to act again. So, for a party of 5 players, the opposition should not get more than 5 turns.
First off, I want to congratulate ethan on a great first post! I’ll be doing formal intros at week’s end.
Next –I totally agree…one thing I’ve found you can do if you want a lot of creatures is to either batch them in groups or make hordes out of them. It gives the feeling of bigness without weighing you down in a lot of actual opponents.
I actually have to disagree with the smaller fights idea… In my experience, I find that fights with lots of weaker monsters are more fun. They may or may not go longer (I can’t really say, my group tends to take forever in combat regardless), but it seems like when there are more monsters the players are more engaged and have more options and things to keep track of. On top of that, since the monsters are weaker, the PCs hit more often meaning the PCs have more fun and the monsters go down pretty quickly.
I can see the appeal behind wading through a ton of minions, but there are efficient ways to do it.
You can still have that big fight feel by changing 25 minions into 5 large creatures that are mobs/swarms. If your players really leap for joy when they hit, keep the defenses low and the HP high. Thematically you have the same huge encounter, but the monsters now take up less of the turn roster, letting your PCs act more often.