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Strides Between Us
She kept cards in a drawer.
One every year.
Father's Day.
His name on the front.
No address on the back.
Jake Clark had two things that mattered: the ability to run and a daughter who believed he would come back. He lost track of both.
A walk-on found his way onto a college track team through sheer will, Jake built
something real. A rivalry worth watching, a family worth fighting for, a future that almost held. Then one wrong step ended his career, and the man who didn't know how to be anything other than a runner slowly disappeared from everyone else too.
What follows isn't a comeback. It's a collapse.
Strides Between Us follows Jake from college tracks to city streets, through the years nobody writes about, and back to a starting line he had no right to stand at. It is a novel about fatherhood and failure, about the people who wait and the people who vanish, and about what it costs to disappear and what it takes to face the one you left behind.
Because somewhere, every year, a card was written.
And never sent.
One every year.
Father's Day.
His name on the front.
No address on the back.
Jake Clark had two things that mattered: the ability to run and a daughter who believed he would come back. He lost track of both.
A walk-on found his way onto a college track team through sheer will, Jake built
something real. A rivalry worth watching, a family worth fighting for, a future that almost held. Then one wrong step ended his career, and the man who didn't know how to be anything other than a runner slowly disappeared from everyone else too.
What follows isn't a comeback. It's a collapse.
Strides Between Us follows Jake from college tracks to city streets, through the years nobody writes about, and back to a starting line he had no right to stand at. It is a novel about fatherhood and failure, about the people who wait and the people who vanish, and about what it costs to disappear and what it takes to face the one you left behind.
Because somewhere, every year, a card was written.
And never sent.
296 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 18, 2026
About the author
Marc Cianfarani
2 books8 followersMarc Cianfarani is a Canadian writer whose novels explore resilience, hope and the choices that define us when life changes unexpectedly.
His debut novel, Strides Between Us, is an inspirational story of family and redemption through the power of running.
His upcoming novel the day AI left, is a thought-provoking science fiction thriller set in a future where humanity has surrendered nearly ever aspect of life to artificial intelligence until one day it all disappears forcing civilization to rediscover what it means to be human.
When he isn't writing, Marc enjoys running, traveling and spending time with his wife and their whippet, Dolce.
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Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review
September 3, 2026
Strides Between Us is a gut-wrenching, beautifully crafted novel that completely captivated me. Jake Clark's journey from promising runner to a man who vanishes from everyone he loves is raw, painful, and heartbreakingly real. The prose is lean and evocative, and the haunting image of those unsent Father's Day cards will stay with me for a long time. This isn't a typical sports redemption story,it's a honest exploration of failure, fatherhood, and the courage it takes to face the ones you left behind. Marc Cianfarani writes with profound empathy, making you ache for every character. An unforgettable read that I cannot recommend highly enough.
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review