diff --git a/run_tests.py b/run_tests.py
index 28e124fd5a7f1687b63d97ed2fc44a7aa5b68816..e7d2d9b9880524981361aef300c4833f121187ed 100644
--- a/run_tests.py
+++ b/run_tests.py
@@ -3,10 +3,11 @@ import os
 import unittest
 import subprocess
 import time
+import shlex
 
 cmd = 'python -m pretenders.server.server --host 127.0.0.1 --port 50000'
 
-p = subprocess.Popen(cmd)
+p = subprocess.Popen(shlex.split(cmd))
 time.sleep(2)
 
 sys.path.append(os.path.abspath(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), 'lib')))