By TERRY TOMALIN, St. Petersburg Times

Navy SEALs stand shoulder to shoulder with the best professional athletes in the world. These elite commandos must be able to run, jump, climb and swim with heavy loads anytime, anywhere, at times with only a few hours to prepare.

There's only a short time left to shop before Christmas. But don't give your favorite anglers something you think they want. Give them a gift you know they will use.

Briana Whaley thought her running career was over just when it was starting. Fresh off a victory at the 2011 Gasparilla Distance Classic in Tampa, Fla., she hoped to qualify as an Olympic marathoner.

But she could barely walk.

"My foot had all kinds of problems," she said. "I could barely put any weight on it."

GRAND CANYON, Ariz. - It's 5 a.m. and the first rays of sunshine light the rock wall above our makeshift camp on the riverbank. Dozens of tiny bats fly just a few feet above my sleeping bag, picking off insects in the early-morning light.

Most folks know that the sport of triathlon involves three disciplines: swimming, biking and running.

But sports dietitian and accomplished age-group athlete Jennifer Hutchison thinks many triathletes could improve their performance by focusing more on a fourth discipline: nutrition.

My 9-year-old son loves the opening scene in the movie "The Last of the Mohicans." In case you haven't seen it, the film adaptation of James Fenimore Cooper's novel begins with three hunters running through the woods.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Jay Downing preaches the benefits of heart-rate monitors to all who will listen.

"You will see results," said Downing, a fitness specialist at the Carillon Wellness Center. "Used properly, a heart-rate monitor is probably one of the most useful tools we have for overall fitness."

He heard about it from a buddy who knew this boxer.

"Jumping rope ... what's the big deal," Len Cucinotta thought on that fateful day back in 1975. "It seemed like a good way to get a little exercise."

Cucinotta, a native New Yorker, and his pal met at Marine Park in Brooklyn.

TAMPA, Fla. - It smells a little musty when you open the door to the SweatShop Urban Gym. As you walk up the stairs, you expect to find Sylvester Stallone banging away on the speed bag.

Instead, you get hit with a faint whiff of perfume as you turn the corner to find six women, their hands wrapped like boxers', stretching on the mats.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - About this time each year, a fisherman catches a large, pregnant bull shark somewhere in the Tampa Bay area.

The angler usually drags the shark ashore and poses, jaws agape, for the obligatory dead-fish picture.

Then the phone rings.

"Is it still safe to swim?" a caller asks.