Coachschwartz: yes, definitely do a reinstall (full), and definitely back up your game before doing so! Drag and drop it into "My Documents" if necessary...that's easy to get to from the Desktop.
It sounds as if it's a game corruption problem, and being that you were able to play as long as you did, it sounds as if something glitched in one of the files.
Hope that helps.
-Sazerac
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