My worst fears realized

So I've been doing this running thing for a few months now, steadily making progress with my 16-week training plan. For the most part, I've been running indoors, mostly because I hate running in the cold. However, the weather has been pretty decent lately, so I've been running outside as much as I can.

On March 6th, I went for my first long outdoor run - 11 miles. It was great to be outdoors, but let me tell you - running outdoors is a lot harder than running indoors. Not only do you have to deal with headwinds (of which there were plenty), there are hills, uneven terrain, and the effect the cold has on your breathing. The first 8 miles were pretty good, I must say, but I struggled through the last 3. It was very hard, but I made it, and in 2:05, which was only 5 minutes behind my desired 5.5 mph pace.

*fast forward to March 9th*

When I go for the long runs, I try to maintain the 5.5 mph pace. When I do the shorter 3-5 mile runs, I like to try to up the pace to 6 mph, just because of the extra effort it requires.

I did a 4-mile run on the 8th (after one day of rest from the 11-mile run), at 6 mph and had no problems whatsoever. The 9th was also a 4-mile day and I continued with the 6 mph pace. Somewhere around the 2.5-mile mark, though, something wasn't right. Thinking it just a sore muscle, I finished up the run. I did think about dropping my speed down to 5.5, but decided against it. It would prove to be my undoing.

After hobbling back to the locker, I realized that I pulled a groin muscle. It wasn't the worst thing to ever happen to me, but I was limping around quite badly. I walked around some more and did some stretching to try to help it along, but nothing seemed to help.

"No problem," I thought. "I'll sleep on it tonight, take the day off tomorrow, and everything should be fine. I'll only lose one day, but that won't impact my training."

I was particularly worried about this, since I had finally registered for the race the night before.

*8 hours of sleep later*

I can barely get out of bed. I know now that perhaps something serious is happening here. My hopes of running the race are dwindling at a rapid rate. At this point, there's nothing I can do but wait and see if the problem corrects itself before I have to throw the whole thing out the window.

And so I wait...