I know that herpes tends to have many, many possible outcomes as far as
symptoms, lesions, frequency and severity. Aside from my sores looking
different from time to time, my outbreaks tends to at least always have the
same prodrome, and I am wondering why this is?

A Typical Outbreak for me:

Day 1: Feeling run down, tired, soreness in the genitals, aching in the
lower back, groin, buttocks and thighs.
Day 2: More aching, and shooting pains in the underarms.
Day 3: Bothersome itching on the inner thighs, groin, maybe more aching.
Later first round of pimples/blisters.
Day 4: Cool burning sensation on the genitals that resembles a mentholated
feeling, then inner and outer thighs.
Day 5: More aching, pinching sensations primarily inner thigh area, then
more blisters/pimples.
Day 6-8: Healing period.

So what I noticed is that the itching almost always happens after the
aching. There must be something to the nerves being irritated and then the
itching is like the nerves trying to heal, just like when you get a cut and
its healing it itches. The mentholated feeling must be what some people
refer to as "tingling"? Those are some observations I have noticed, if
anyone wants to comment feel free. This outbreak started Monday and I prided
myself, because I actually had not had one in about 10 days prior, but all
good things come to an end I suppose.