LYNN — Truth be told, she wasn’t always a runner. Diane Casselberry, a math teacher and cross country coach at Lynn Tech, admits to joining her high school marching band to get out of gym class. “I come from a long line of couch potatoes,” said Casselberry, who lives in Amesbury.
Fast forward to today. Casselberry has completed marathons (26.2 miles) on every continent, joining the “Seven Continents Club” this month after beginning 10 years ago.
Casselberry, 57, didn’t start running until she was 34 years old. She still remembers hearing about the globetrotting adventure for the first time. “I’m kind of interested in that,” she said.
“So, I looked it up and saw that there’s a club.” After a few conversations with her daughter, Kristen (age 26), who has been running half-marathons on every continent alongside her mother, Casselberry decided to go for it. “Now, you have to keep in mind that I’m a single parent.
I’m a teacher in New Hampshire (at the time),” she said. “I have no money and make no money. I’m not one of these people who can just jet all around the world.
I have a very tight budget.” The next thing you knew, she was running. “We kind of shoved them all in.
We did Antarctica, South America, and Asia within seven months,” Casselberry said. “The reason is, because my daughter is getting her doctorate at Johns Hopkins. Once she starts that, it’s going to be very difficult for our schedules to line up and take a big trip.
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