usage of long

yuji8

a question about the meaning of a phrase from a novel.

The guys who work for Omega drive their personal cars. And that's the
problem Frankie run into long
about last January. His 'eighty-one Mercury Lynx blew the
transmission, and he didn't have the
dough to fix it. (Body of Evidence, by P. Cornwell, p376)

Note: Omega is a delivery company.
Question: usage of long in 'run into long about last January'
'long' must be adverb here, so I guess its meaning is similar to deep.
Such as 'Frankie run deep into a problem.'