diff --git a/src/ray/common/asio/instrumented_io_context.h b/src/ray/common/asio/instrumented_io_context.h
index 8a72bc5f7209..737193543462 100644
--- a/src/ray/common/asio/instrumented_io_context.h
+++ b/src/ray/common/asio/instrumented_io_context.h
@@ -33,6 +33,15 @@ class instrumented_io_context : public boost::asio::io_context {
 
   bool running() { return is_running_.load(); }
 
+  bool run_if_stopped(std::function<void()> callback) {
+    if (!is_running_.exchange(true)) {
+      callback();
+      boost::asio::io_context::run();
+      return true;
+    }
+    return false;
+  }
+
   void run() {
     is_running_.store(true);
     boost::asio::io_context::run();
diff --git a/src/ray/gcs/gcs_client/gcs_client.cc b/src/ray/gcs/gcs_client/gcs_client.cc
index 1b2dbc49e361..b19e76645184 100644
--- a/src/ray/gcs/gcs_client/gcs_client.cc
+++ b/src/ray/gcs/gcs_client/gcs_client.cc
@@ -112,9 +112,8 @@ Status GcsClient::Connect(instrumented_io_context &io_service,
     // Run the IO service here to make the above call synchronous.
     // If it is already running, then wait for our particular callback
     // to be processed.
-    if (!io_service.running()) {
-      temporary_start.set_value(true);
-      io_service.run();
+    if (io_service.run_if_stopped(
+            [&temporary_start]() { temporary_start.set_value(true); })) {
       io_service.restart();
     } else {
       temporary_start.set_value(false);