diff --git a/workflows/plugins/workflow_runners/local/workflow_runner_local.py b/workflows/plugins/workflow_runners/local/workflow_runner_local.py
index be36015e..2d86a08f 100644
--- a/workflows/plugins/workflow_runners/local/workflow_runner_local.py
+++ b/workflows/plugins/workflow_runners/local/workflow_runner_local.py
@@ -1,8 +1,10 @@
+import asyncio
 import json
+import os
 import subprocess
 import sys
 import tempfile
-import os
+import threading
 from typing import List
 from uuid import uuid4
 import re
@@ -33,7 +35,7 @@ def description(self) -> str:
         """Returns a description of the workflow runner"""
         return "Runs WDL workflows locally using miniWDL"
 
-    def detect_task_output(self, line: str) -> None:
+    def _detect_task_output(self, line: str) -> None:
         if "INFO output :: job:" in line:
             task = _search_group(r"job: (.*),", line, 1)
             outputs = json.loads(_search_group(r"values: (\{.*\})", line, 1))
@@ -41,14 +43,13 @@ def detect_task_output(self, line: str) -> None:
             for key, output in outputs.items():
                 print(f"{key}: {output}")
 
-    async def run_workflow(
+    async def _run_workflow_work(
         self,
         event_bus: EventBus,
-        workflow_run_id: str,
         workflow_path: str,
         inputs: dict,
-    ) -> str:
-        runner_id = str(uuid4())
+        runner_id: str,
+    ) -> None:
         await event_bus.send(WorkflowStartedMessage(runner_id=runner_id))
         # Running docker-in-docker requires the paths to files and outputs to be the same between
         with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory(dir="/tmp") as tmpdir:
@@ -63,7 +64,7 @@ async def run_workflow(
                 while True:
                     assert p.stderr
                     line = p.stderr.readline().decode()
-                    self.detect_task_output(line)
+                    self._detect_task_output(line)
                     print(line, file=sys.stderr)
                     if not line:
                         break
@@ -75,4 +76,31 @@ async def run_workflow(
             except subprocess.CalledProcessError as e:
                 print(e.output)
                 await event_bus.send(WorkflowFailedMessage(runner_id=runner_id))
+
+    def _run_workflow_sync(
+        self,
+        event_bus: EventBus,
+        workflow_path: str,
+        inputs: dict,
+        runner_id: str,
+    ) -> None:
+        loop = asyncio.new_event_loop()
+        asyncio.set_event_loop(loop)
+        loop.run_until_complete(self._run_workflow_work(event_bus, workflow_path, inputs, runner_id))
+        loop.close()
+
+    async def run_workflow(
+        self,
+        event_bus: EventBus,
+        workflow_run_id: str,
+        workflow_path: str,
+        inputs: dict,
+    ) -> str:
+        runner_id = str(uuid4())
+        # run workflow in a thread
+        thread = threading.Thread(
+            target=self._run_workflow_sync,
+            args=(event_bus, workflow_path, inputs, runner_id),
+        )
+        thread.start()
         return runner_id