diff --git a/pkg/test/dockerutil/container.go b/pkg/test/dockerutil/container.go
index 7bacb70d3..41fcf4978 100644
--- a/pkg/test/dockerutil/container.go
+++ b/pkg/test/dockerutil/container.go
@@ -216,7 +216,7 @@ func (c *Container) Create(ctx context.Context, r RunOpts, args ...string) error
 }
 
 func (c *Container) create(ctx context.Context, profileImage string, conf *container.Config, hostconf *container.HostConfig, netconf *network.NetworkingConfig) error {
-	if c.runtime != "" {
+	if c.runtime != "" && c.runtime != "runc" {
 		// Use the image name as provided here; which normally represents the
 		// unmodified "basic/alpine" image name. This should be easy to grok.
 		c.profileInit(profileImage)
diff --git a/test/benchmarks/network/iperf_test.go b/test/benchmarks/network/iperf_test.go
index 5e81149fe..d8dd2a6ae 100644
--- a/test/benchmarks/network/iperf_test.go
+++ b/test/benchmarks/network/iperf_test.go
@@ -25,10 +25,6 @@ import (
 )
 
 func BenchmarkIperf(b *testing.B) {
-	iperf := tools.Iperf{
-		Num: b.N,
-	}
-
 	clientMachine, err := harness.GetMachine()
 	if err != nil {
 		b.Fatalf("failed to get machine: %v", err)
@@ -93,6 +89,10 @@ func BenchmarkIperf(b *testing.B) {
 				b.Fatalf("failed to wait for server: %v", err)
 			}
 
+			iperf := tools.Iperf{
+				Num: b.N,
+			}
+
 			// Run the client.
 			b.ResetTimer()
 			out, err := client.Run(ctx, dockerutil.RunOpts{
@@ -103,6 +103,7 @@ func BenchmarkIperf(b *testing.B) {
 			}
 			b.StopTimer()
 			iperf.Report(b, out)
+			b.StartTimer()
 		})
 	}
 }