Nick Palazzo, Lindenhurst ultramarathoner, dies at 78

A journey of a thousand miles, the proverb goes, begins with a single step. No one knew this better than Lindenhurst ultramarathoner Nick Palazzo, who took journeys of a hundred miles step by step by step.

"How else do you get through a 100-mile trail run that takes 24 hours?" asked his son, Joseph Palazzo. "My father was a deep thinker and he enjoyed running not just for the physical gain but also for the chance to do what you mentally have to be able to do as an ultra-runner. He was a man who enjoyed solitude, and I think he enjoyed having the time out there to be able to be a free thinker."

Ultramarathons are a form of footrace beyond the 26.2 miles of a marathon, reaching to 50 miles, 100 miles and even more with the notorious Badwater 135, entering its 49th grueling year in 2026.

"Nick ran every major national 100-mile race," said his friend Michael Polansky, a founder of what is now the Greater Long Island Running Club, "plus the most difficult event in the country: the Badwater 135-mile run through Death Valley to Mount Whitney, from the lowest point in the contiguous United States to the highest point. I was with him as a pacer and crew when he did that in 1999 when they made a movie about that race." It was director Mel Stuart’s "Running on the Sun: The Badwater 135,” in which Palazzo is one of the elite athletes featured. He finished in 43 hours, seven  minutes.

Palazzo died Dec. 5, age 78, at Good Shepherd Hospice at Mercy Hospital, Rockville Centre, of complications following a fall at home and subsequent hospitalization.

"He lived alone and fell down the stairs, and ended up fracturing ribs and damaging a lung," said his son. "And tough guy that he is, he didn’t call for help and he drove himself to the hospital."

Born Feb. 3, 1947, in the Bronx, Nicholas Joseph Palazzo Jr. was the younger of two children of World War II Marine veteran Nicholas Joseph Palazzo Sr. and Teresa R. Trentadue Palazzo. The family moved to Lindenhurst when he was 10. Nick Jr. graduated from Lindenhurst High School in 1964, and after serving in the U.S. Navy, discharged in 1970, he worked as a delivery-truck driver until retiring in 2011.

In 1973 he married Valerie Alexy, who died seven years later. A year before this, Nick Palazzo said in a 1989 interview, he had seen a newspaper ad for a weekly road race at Eisenhower Park in East Meadow, and began his journey from recreational runner to athlete.

More than 75 ultramarathons

Among the countless races in which he competed were more than 75 ultramarathons, including the Caumsett State Park 50K in 2004 and the USA Track & Field National 50K Road Championship in East Islip in 2005, 2007 and 2008. He raced frequently in New York City competitions as well as all over the United States.

Palazzo also served for decades as an officer and race director or co-director with GLIRC, and would help spearhead runs to benefit such charitable organizations as the teenage amputee group Adolescent Sarcoma Patients Intense Rehabilitation with Exercise.

"He was dedicated to his sport not only as a runner but was a volunteer," said Polansky, of Plainview. "He was committed and dedicated to whatever he took a shine to. He never went into anything halfway."

With the help of his mother, Palazzo as a single father "was in my life every day. We had a great relationship," said his son. "We did amusement parks, stuff like that, when I was young — and he loved the New York Giants and going to football games with me. He took me out to the running events a lot. I was not a runner but I did get involved in volunteering."

In addition to his son, Palazzo is survived by a sister, Theresa Palazzo, of Calverton, and two granddaughters.

He was cremated, and his urn will be buried Jan. 5 at 11 a.m. at Calverton National Cemetery.