Holy crap those are a lot of questions 
First of all, thanks for your warm words, I really appreciate it 
I ran good in terms of all in situations, yes. EV lines do not tell the whole truth, as you can run bad/good when facing all in situations and cards still have to be dealt. But if you run good/bad in setups or coolers that go to showdown, this will not show in the EV graph at all. But yes, I do believe I ran quite well. Which is completely normal in small samples, and 68k is still not a HUGE sample but it's definitely not too small to draw conclusions from. I think most people would say that 100k hands is an OK sample. But it's still completely possible for things to turn around and that I run above or below my EV line again for 20-30k hands. Variance is quite underestimated by many beginners. 
I did not see much of a reason to stay at NL2, because I had already won enough to have 20 BI for the next level and NL2 and NL5 are not very different. For most people it's the mindset that keeps them from moving up. For an NL2 player moving up to NL5 for the first time, he is bound to be nervous, feel discouraged by the SLIGHTLY more aggressive regulars, and when he is all in it's 2.5x the amount he is used to. For me NL2 and NL5 does not change one bit how I feel when I am at the tables, nor does it affect my quality of game, and since I was already sure I would beat NL5 there was just no point to stay at NL2. For a beginner that would probably be different.
I don't say "permanently moved up" about anything in this challenge. I sometimes still play NL5 for a video, when I am with students, etc. I don't treat this as serious as someone should for whom it is their main game
No, I do not count any rake back. I did for the first... maybe 5-6 weeks of the challenge? After that I just decided not to count it, partly because I'm lazy and it's hard to calculate it properly when I play on other games normally and also partly to show that yes, it is definitely still possible to crush the micros without taking rake back into consideration. 
In regards to volume, one who is new should also not compare himself to someone who has played poker for a longer time. Study some mind set material for this Particularly Jared Tandler explains things quite well. As a beginner, you have to find how much you are able to play without slipping out of concentration, without starting to tilt etc. It takes a long time to build up endurance to stay in the zone or play your A/B-game. I usually suggest my students to start out with 40 minute sessions and evaluate from there how well they played, etc. Based on their needs and how much time they have for poker and how many breaks they can "afford" time-wise, you adjust it from there. But as a beginner I would probably not recommend more than 2x40 minutes daily for starters and instead put more time into studying off the tables. And then add a little bit week by week.
No, I do not have any date in mind. In poker so many factors affects the outcome, and trying to calculate an end-date would only lead to... well, energy spent in the wrong spot. I know as a beginner its exciting to use math trying to figure out how much you can win in a month if you play x hands on y winrate and so on, but things don't work like that. I don't want to stress myself in any way by trying to calculate an end date or something based on winrates. I just sit down and play at the best of my ability every single time I hit the tables, because that is the one and only thing I can do and the only thing I want to focus my energy on. When we spend all our energy on this, things will always work out the best in the end. 
I do not post much about my personal life because I do not feel super comfortable leaving this information out in public. I've been studying the German language quite intensely the last year to become fluent at some point and my courses will continue after summer. I've also studied some math/other courses that I need since I want to study economics. I am not 100% sure yet which route to take but I hope to run my own business one day or get into real estate. Or both.
Quite a wall of text, hope these answers help you and others somewhat.
Am off now to cheer the german team into the next round!! 
Weekly goals 13-19th June
