Runoff is important with soil, it's what allows salts to be washed away.
Babs34, I agree with you on soil dryness. It's funny how often people recommend one extreme to prevent another. Root rot is a very real concern for water sensitive plants, but bone dry soil is not an ideal solution.
For the fastest growth rate in soil keep the micro-organisms in the soil alive to maximize water and nutrient uptake efficiency. Let the soil dry out completely and all those micro-organisms die off and need to repopulate with the next watering.
Learn to read your plants, they'll tell you they're thirsty long before the soil dries out. For example: with Marijuana the leaves will point upward when the plant is thirsty, and they'll get stiff and curl downward when the plant is drowning.