Usually fuel pressure issues are as you have already stated from being an issue with the fuel pressure regulator to a bad check valve in the fuel pump.
When you used the fuel pressure test gage, did you goose the throttle while the vehicle was running to see if the fuel pressure dropped or raised?
Yea make sure you are testing correctly. As for the long crank I agree that could be the check valve in the fuel pump and if you had a faulty fuel pressure regulator OR a restriction somewhere it could explain the high pressure. Here’s a video on what’s inside the fuel pump to give you a better idea of what might be going on with that check valve.