would love to know your favorite prayers to kick off this Lenten Season!

The Stations of the Cross and the VII Sorrows of Mary are inseparable devotions.
You can't have one without the other.  Christ is our Redeemer and Mary is His Co-Redemptrix

The stations of the Cross, the Via Crucis is the most richly indulgenced and oldest devotion in the Church that a layperson can perform.  It was performed first by Our Blessed Mother and after Christ's death we're told she walked the route to Calvary frequently with St. John while she lived in Jerusalem.
When she moved to Ephesus, Emmerich tells us she set up a kind of Way of the Cross on the hill behind her home.
"She had paced out and measured all the distances between the Stations of the Via Crucis"
At each station she had placed a small stone or some item of remembrance and she walked these stations every night, often sitting, contemplating and weeping.

The Stations of the Cross are not just for Lent.  Every Catholic Church in the world has them.  Hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent to ensure the faithful had access to the stations wherever they may be.  Surely no one could think they were in every church just for the five Fridays of Lent.

The VII Sorrows, the Via Matris, is the companion of the Way of the Cross.
As we know Mary made the stations while she was alive, we also know that while she was alive she was known as the Mother of Sorrows by the people.

After her assumption into Heaven, her very first apparition was to St. John as the Sorrowful Mother.  She told John she had obtained from her Divine Son, four promises for those who would have devotion to her Sorrows, (many places say they have been expanded to seven but I've not been able to find proof of their source)

At every subsequent apparition Mary appears sorrowing.  NEVER has she ever said,  "You guys are doing a great job...keep up the good work".  Always she implores us to stop hurting her Son. 
Like the Via Crucis, the Via Matris devotion can be performed at home if you are unable to to do so in a church, however, unlike the Via Crucis, a specially blessed crucifix is not required.

Something  to think about:

Below is a picture of the fourth station and the fourth sorrow of Mary (taken from the Via Matris).  Every mother will know what is in Mary's heart...she wants to take her Son's suffering away and to herself, but knowing it's not God's will she asks the Father for some relief for Him.
Note the 5th station.... Simon helps Jesus carry His cross and the 6th station Veronica comes to comfort Jesus.....God answers Mary's requests very quickly.

At the apparition in Kibeho, Mary specifically requested the VII Sorrows Rosary.

The Via Crucis and the Via Matris are not devotions just for Lent...they are for a lifetime.