diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index d8e3476..26e54ed 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -15,10 +15,10 @@ jobs:
 
     steps:
     - uses: actions/checkout@v4
-    - name: Set up Python 3.10
+    - name: Set up Python 3.11
       uses: actions/setup-python@v5
       with:
-        python-version: "3.10"
+        python-version: "3.11"
         cache: "pip"
         cache-dependency-path: |
           pyproject.toml
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 4d0cff1..ee68ff6 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -13,8 +13,9 @@ Based on [socketpool](https://github.com/benoitc/socketpool).
 **Requires Python 3.8 or above.**
 
 ## Examples
+You can run these examples, one after another, in a `python -m asyncio` shell.
 
-Run a simple TCP echo server in a background thread, using the `asyncio` library.
+1. Run a simple TCP echo server in a background thread, using the `asyncio` library.
 
 ```python
 import asyncio
@@ -34,9 +35,19 @@ t.start()
 
 # run a tcp echo server using asyncio in the background event loop
 async def echo_handler(reader, writer):
-    writer.write(await reader.read(32))
-    await writer.drain()
-    writer.close()
+    try:
+        while True:
+            try:
+                data = await reader.readuntil(b'\n')
+            except asyncio.IncompleteReadError:
+                break
+
+            writer.write(data)
+            await writer.drain()
+
+    finally:
+        writer.close()
+        await writer.wait_closed()
 
 
 async def echo_server(tcp_port):
@@ -47,7 +58,7 @@ async def echo_server(tcp_port):
 asyncio.run_coroutine_threadsafe(echo_server(12345), loop)
 ```
 
-Create a new TCP connection pool in the main thread, get a connection, and send and receive data.
+2. Create a new TCP connection pool in the main thread, get a connection, and send and receive data.
 
 ```python
 from aiosocketpool import AsyncConnectionPool, AsyncTcpConnector
@@ -63,22 +74,20 @@ pool = AsyncConnectionPool(
 
 async def hello_world():
     async with pool.connection(host="127.0.0.1", port=12345) as conn:
-        await conn.sendall(b"hello world")
+        await conn.sendall(b"hello world\n")
         print(await conn.recv(32))
 
 
 await hello_world()
 ```
 
-Create a bunch of connections and run them all concurrently.
+3. Create a bunch of connections and run them all concurrently.
 
 ```python
-loop = asyncio.get_event_loop()
-
 tasks = []
 
 for _ in range(25):
-    tasks.append(loop.create_task(hello_world()))
+    tasks.append(asyncio.create_task(hello_world()))
 
-loop.run_until_complete(asyncio.gather(*tasks))
+await asyncio.gather(*tasks)
 ```
diff --git a/aiosocketpool/__init__.py b/aiosocketpool/__init__.py
index 253be4c..dae7288 100644
--- a/aiosocketpool/__init__.py
+++ b/aiosocketpool/__init__.py
@@ -168,7 +168,7 @@ async def connect(self) -> bool:
         if __debug__:
             logging.debug(f"AsyncTcpConnector: new connection to {self.host}:{self.port}")
 
-        loop = asyncio.get_event_loop()
+        loop = asyncio.get_running_loop()
 
         await asyncio.wait_for(
             loop.sock_connect(self._socket, (self.host, self.port)), self.timeout
@@ -226,7 +226,7 @@ async def sendall(self, data: bytes):
         -------
         `None` on success
         """
-        loop = asyncio.get_event_loop()
+        loop = asyncio.get_running_loop()
 
         return await asyncio.wait_for(loop.sock_sendall(self._socket, data), self.timeout)
 
@@ -244,7 +244,7 @@ async def recv(self, size: int = 1024) -> bytes:
         -------
         `bytes`
         """
-        loop = asyncio.get_event_loop()
+        loop = asyncio.get_running_loop()
 
         return await asyncio.wait_for(loop.sock_recv(self._socket, size), self.timeout)
 
@@ -342,8 +342,10 @@ def __init__(
         self.connections: weakref.WeakSet[BaseConnector] = weakref.WeakSet()
 
         self._reaper_task = None
+        self._reaper_should_be_running = False
 
         if reap_connections:
+            self._reaper_should_be_running = True
             self.reap_delay = reap_delay
             self.start_reaper()
 
@@ -354,16 +356,29 @@ def too_old(self, conn: BaseConnector) -> bool:
         return time.time() - conn.get_lifetime() > self.max_lifetime
 
     def start_reaper(self):
-        loop = asyncio.get_event_loop()
+        """Start the background reaper task on the current running loop.
+
+        If called when no event loop is running (e.g., pool constructed before
+        asyncio.run()), defer startup until a running loop is available.
+        """
+        try:
+            loop = asyncio.get_running_loop()
+        except RuntimeError:
+            return
 
         self._reaper_task = loop.create_task(self._reaper_loop())
-        self.ensure_reaper_started()
 
     def stop_reaper(self):
         if self._reaper_task is not None:
             self._reaper_task.cancel()
 
     def ensure_reaper_started(self):
+        if self._reaper_task is None:
+            if self._reaper_should_be_running:
+                self.start_reaper()
+
+            return
+
         if self._reaper_task.cancelled() or self._reaper_task.done():
             self.start_reaper()
 
@@ -446,8 +461,7 @@ def release_connection(self, conn: BaseConnector):
         -----
         If a connector is too old, or we are going to exceed `max_size`, drop it.
         """
-        if self._reaper_task is not None:
-            self.ensure_reaper_started()
+        self.ensure_reaper_started()
 
         current_pool_size = self.pool.qsize()
 
diff --git a/aiosocketpool/version.py b/aiosocketpool/version.py
index b1a19e3..034f46c 100644
--- a/aiosocketpool/version.py
+++ b/aiosocketpool/version.py
@@ -1 +1 @@
-__version__ = "0.0.5"
+__version__ = "0.0.6"
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 3f0a107..cbfa6da 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"
 name = "aiosocketpool"
 description = "An asyncio-compatible socket pool"
 readme = "README.md"
-requires-python = ">=3.8"
+requires-python = ">=3.11"
 license = { file = "LICENSE" }
 authors = [
   { name = "Roo Sczesnak", email = "andrewscz@gmail.com" },