Is there an ideal body type for running?
It partly depends on the kind of running you want to do, e.g., sprinting vs. endurance, etc. Most successful (endurance) elites are pretty thin and light, but can vary a bit with leg and arm length and the like. If you’re pear-shaped, part of your running “success” will depend on why. Whether or not you’re rubbish depends on what your objectives are, and if you’d like to be a decent recreational runner, compete in the Olymics, etc. If at least part of that shape is from general diet and health, and you’d like to be a decent recreational runner, your body shape will adapt and change over time, and no, you won’t always be a rubbish runner. If you keep running and have “unnatural” excess weight below the waist, it should eventually tone up naturally. A lot of people who take up running for fitness/health are pretty surprised at how much their body adapts and changes over time. It can sometimes take a year or two for dramatic changes to be super apparent, but the body does adapt quite a bi