I moved into my house about a year ago, and the landscaping had been neglected for some time. I focused last summer and fall on the backyard, and am now ready for the front. There isn't much there, just grass and weeds. Most of the lawn has been taken over by some kind of grassy weed but I don't know what it is. Last year I just mowed it all, but this year I'm digging some out to put in perennial beds and I also want to get the rest of the lawn in shape.

Right now this weed is brown and crispy for the most part, but the very thick root system is alive and well. The leaves are thicker then most of the rest of the real grass and seem to develop along runners of 6 or seven inches, and they are coarser. In the summer they turn a blue green and then die back. They do produce seeds, but it has been a while since I saw those. Basically huge portions of the front lawn are composed of this grass/weed. I'm thinking of using roundup on the areas I plan on planting with perennials, but even then the roots are so thick I will need to pull them out. I'm not sure what I can do about the rest of the lawn though.

Any ideas on what this is, and how I can kill it?