Walking the Des Moines Skywalks

I don't know about you, but for me one of the hardest things about winter is exercising! Walks are my main form of exercise, but temperatures in the teens combined with wind and ice don't entice me to get outside much. I'm desperately out of shape, so I've been brainstorming various solutions to my exercise problem: walking at the mall, buying exercise dvds, getting a pass to the Drake gym next semester... But yesterday my solution was to walk the skywalks downtown. One unique thing about Des Moines downtown is that is has skywalks connecting practically every building. They are generally used by people who work in the buildings and they have many interesting features:
-beautiful views of the city
-lots of places to eat lunch
The Hub of the skywalks is kind of like a mini mall consisting of a few shops, including a cute little toy store and Christopher and Banks. There used to be a Younkers (department store) but sadly it went out of business). There are some gift shops and fancy dress stores. I wish it had more stores, I think it would make the coolest mall
-The skywalks take you past all the big businesses, insurance companies, banks, through lots of different buildings
-at Christmas time different buildings have Christmas lights or trees and decorations. One building had an enormous wreath
-There are lots of doors you go through in the skywalks, but they are almost all automatic, so with the stroller I never have to stop to open them!
-You don't see a lot of people walking through them- their high traffic time is before, after work and during lunch
-I do wish the stores were open later- their hours cater mostly to the working people and they close around 5.
Anyway, that's a little overview, but the point is, I walked the skywalks yesterday and really enjoyed it. It was warm and I felt like I got a good walk in and I got to feel like I was walking through a city and it was just nice to get out.
Here's the problem:
I've been struggling trying to figure out where to park to walk the skywalks. And I've done lots of research. Weekends all downtown parking is free, so Saturdays are great days to walk and I know where to park close to skywalk entrances. But on weekdays there are parking meters everywhere and the garages cost. So I tried the downtown library, but they have all these posted signs saying you can only park there WHILE IN the library. And they have signs about video cameras. So I don't want to get arrested as a mom trying to get exercise walking the skywalks. anyway, the library is a little far from the skywalk entrance and would mean I'd have to spend a short time outside- and that wouldn't be ideal- but I'd do it if they didn't have those signs. So- I looked online and drove around downtown but there is no free parking anywhere near the skywalks on weekdays. So either I pay for a meter- around 75 cents for 45 minutes- which would be fine- or I just walk Saturdays. So, I love the Saturday idea and I may pay the 75 cents every once in a while if I'm desperate to get out and really want to do it. I'm disappointed about the parking thing, but I'm glad I at least have another fun indoor place to walk( malls get old). Any other suggestions on how to get winter exercise???