<p>I found info about CMC:
"there's a reason why the cross country team practices before sunrise. Running during the day would be like smoking a pack of cigarettes". </p>
<p>How about Pomona?
What time of the day they have cross country practices?</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>Does it matter. Pomona is in the middle of the smog belt. (Cough cough choke choke). Think inversion layer. Think dead air. Think dirty lungs.</p>
<p>Pomona and CMC are in the same place-- literally a 5 minute run from one to the other.</p>
<p>The smog is worst from June-September. During the "winter" months (December through March) it's not bad at all. Unfortunately, the XC season is from September to mid-November, so XC kids get hit worst by the smog; track isn't so bad.
In the morning it isn't too bad, which is why the teams run then. And, of course, if you get lucky and it rains, you'll be in the clear.</p>
<p>Honestly, I come from a place where the air is about as clean as it gets anywhere on the planet (really rural), and the air in Claremont is fine. Most who mention the air quality as a major problem are thinking of 10 or 15 years ago, when it was much worse.</p>
<p>LA Valley pollution is still pretty bad. The air doesn't look as black as it used to, but not all pollutants that are unhealthy are visible. Just because you can't see it, doesn't mean it won't affect you. Nevertheless, ther may be some seasonal variations and daily lows that might be used for planning purposes. Too bad Claremont isn't located, say, on the coast where the air is cleaner. <a href="http://www.wunderground.com/US/CA/Claremont.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.wunderground.com/US/CA/Claremont.html</a></p>
<p>As has been said in a related thread, the issue is likely less smog, more (1) temperature and (2) student schedules. Claremont is the desert, so smog or no smog (and I also experienced no problem whatsoever with air quality), you don't want to run during midday. Plenty of people jog, run, and exercise with no breathing troubles in the evening, but this time of day presents more schedule conflicts for sports teams.</p>
<p>I assume that you're more concerned with the time of the practice than with air quality, anyway. I expect you'll find larger differences between Pomona and CMC than just this, but your best bet will be to look up team rosters and either email the coaches or facebook message team members.</p>
<p>I suspect the "smog" issue is more perception than reality, based on historical conditions than may not now be accurate. This perception seems particularly true for those living in SoCal in general.</p>
<p>As seen in this graph <a href="http://www.aqmd.gov/smog/o3hist-trend.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.aqmd.gov/smog/o3hist-trend.pdf</a> , air quality in SoCal has improved several fold over the past few decades.</p>
<p>In fact, according to these numbers <a href="http://www.scorecard.org%5B/url%5D">http://www.scorecard.org</a> it's not much worse than where I live here in North Carolina, certainly not <em>known</em> for smog.</p>
<p>Air Quality Index/ Ozone level</p>
<p>LA 212/0.15
NC 174/0.11</p>