Ayla Brown National Anthem Performance (And Behind The Scenes Photos From The Boston Marathon)

This year was the 128th Boston Marathon and I was asked to sing the National Anthem before the racers hit the pavement! Actually, if I'm being technical, I sang three different times throughout the morning, and our morning show did a live broadcast at the starting line in Hopkinton. The first song I performed happened prior to the wheelchair racers at 8:55am. This Anthem was the "official" kickoff of the Boston Marathon. It was also a big moment for me because I had two military jet flyovers at the conclusion of the song. Plus, this Anthem was televised locally on WCVB, and apparently nationally on ESPN as well. How cool is that! The second song was "God Bless America," at 9:33am and that was performed before the elite runners (you know, the ones who actually run to win the race). And then I sang one more time at 9:55am, and it was once again the National Anthem before the star of the main group of runners. These were the runners who qualified and raised money for various charities. Turns out, there were over 30,000 participants in this year's Boston Marathon. Video Of Ayla Brown National Anthem Jonathan Wier and Ayla Brown Interviewed Rob Gronkowski and Camille Kostek [iframe src="https://omny.fm/shows/country-mornings-with-jonathan-ayla/jonathan-and-ayla-interview-gronk/embed" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write" width="100%" height="180" frameborder="0" title="Jonathan and Ayla INTERVIEW GRONK"][/iframe] Former New England Patriots superstar, Rob Gronkowski was the Boston Marathon's Grand Marshal this year. While our show was doing the live broadcast I saw him out of the corner of my eye and mentioned that I wanted him to come over to the booth to get a picture with us. That was just the beginning. Both he and Camille stepped right in for a random, unplanned interview. Gronk even hinted at a possible return to the Patriots with Tom Brady! [caption id="attachment_1167515" align="alignnone" width="765"] Last week, Tom Brady said that if he got the call from the Patriots that he would definitely consider it a possibility. Jonathan and Ayla asked Gronk about that, and also whether he would return. The answer left us thinking... anything is possible.[/caption] Behind The Scenes Photos From Marathon Monday [gallery ids="1167530,1167533,1167536,1167539,1167542,1167515,1167518"] [select-listicle listicle_id="1167341" syndication_name="best-country-songs-for-running" description="yes"]