Mall walking great alternative in summertime

Guest Post: Erica
As you know, from a previous post, I loved to spin but chose to stop fairly far along in my pregnancy. I had to keep my heart rate below 140 and that pretty much meant sitting on my butt and slowly peddling along. It wasn’t fun so I decided to put spin on hold until Baby O arrived.
Between then and now I walked a bit, did prenatal yoga and whatever I could when I mustered up the energy (third trimester lethargy ya’ know).
Baby O (aka Finn) arrived July 7 and since then I have been dying to get out of the house and do something physical. It is “fry an egg on the sidewalk” hot here (we live in Phoenix) so we can’t walk outside unless we go around 5:30 a.m. So Finn and I have taken to mall walking. At first I was skeptical, but I have been converted.
It is not as nice as walking outside or having a destination, but it is nice to be able to get some exercise (albeit not too strenuous when walking behind lollygaggers) without overheating. I was surprised to see so many mall walkers in the middle of the day on a Sunday. They were raring to go with their walking shoes, capri work out pants and iPods. I also saw a lot of moms with strollers … with one kid, multiple kids and with friends who also had strollers … almost a gaggle of soccer moms also trying to find a way to beat the heat. I guess this is a local phenomenon and I am just late catching on!
Fortunately it was a bit cooler a few days last week. So Finn and I were able to walk outside early in the morning, but considering summer won’t be over for a month or so, I imagine we will continue to walk Paradise Valley Mall and Scottsdale Fashion Square.
And, when desperate times call for desperate measures, Target, Costco, whatever we can find! Happy trails!
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Thanks so much Erica for sharing this with us. This is Erica’s second guest post. If anyone is interested in writing a guest post for Go Fit Girl! let me know via comments or send me an e-mail to: ann@gofitgirl.com.