Running into Africa: A Memoir

It's a roller coaster ride of a travelogue. There is an inverse relationship between angst and diversion-seeking behavior which takes the reader through packs of cigarettes and bottles of good South African cheap wine, across crocodile infested waters, on 33 mile runs with, boulders and baboons, and into very precarious emotional and social situations from which Hodge manages to extricate herself and remain unscathed. At 26, Hodge is weary, wondering, homesick and puzzled about love. And she really want to find out how to get into the Okavango delta for good! The raw stream of thoughts, events and feelings, are like a rope, magnified down to the fiber level. The personal account of Botswana highlights the different strands of her journey and how they are woven together: the cycles of highs and lows about teaching, poverty, personal love, a struggling society, relationships, adventure, and running. They are inseparable components recalled vividly. The characters include British geologists working for DeBeers, an Afrikaner mercenary working at a Botswana abattoir, American geologists and Peace Corps teachers, Canadian teachers, and a local zoologist, among others. The book is about running and becoming whole in self and place (fighting the yang) and a phenomenal athlete quite by accident. As a way of coping, Hodge picked up long distance running and competed to become the National Marathon Champion of Botswana for 1992.