people annoy me...

you could respond without attacking and they would maybe be more likely to talk about it. 

"THE ironman, i wish!  i did a race in kentucky that is a qualifier for that one!  maybe one day i'll get to kona!"

In the interest of a free-flowing exchange of views and opinions:

Me [I don't have a tattoo and haven't raced a 140.6]: Yeah, it was tough.  I did the race in [insert your race].

people with mdot tattoos annoy me....

I don't attack. I actually have a VERY non confrontational personality. I simply try to explain that I have done the distance just not the specific race in Kona. I try to educate someone about tri's, but you can tell in there eyes that they only wanted to talk about KONA.

It just annoys me when someone asks a question and you try to explain... they don't like your answer.

I will have to try that... I still think their eyes will glaze over, tho.

Non-tri people only know Kona [I get this - there are many things I do not know] and when I try to explain this race is one of many as well as the World Championships they never seem to hear the explanations.

seriously people... If you are going to start a conversation... ANY CONVERSATION... allow it to FLOW wherever it wants to go. Not just in the direction you want it to go to show how smart you are or to prove how much you know.

(sound familiar?)

I am not a bully [in my best Arnold Schwartzenegger voice]... I just love the breed.

This.  By THE Ironman they may have been thinking of one in their area not necessarily THE Kona.  We have an Ironman here so when people see an M dot they probably assume the Ironman here in Texas, not Kona. 

"Wow... have you done the Ironman. That must have been hard."

"yeah, it was"

What's so hard about that? 

The person's eyes glazed over because they've probably heard other people doing the "chit triathlete's say" deal and immediately wished they'd have just kept their mouth shut.

Because you did not respond to the statement they made. They noted you have an m-dot, and knew it was associated with the ironman. Good on them. They knew it is a hard race, and that it must have taken a lot of work. YOU chose to get petty in your response, talking about the types of races, rather than responding to the observation that actually related to you - i.e. whether or not it was hard (and of course it was hard. That was, in fact, the opening gambit to a conversation. If you think the "art of conversation is dead, the post-mortem here shows that you killed it, not them).

If this was someone who did not know you, then you came off as a boorish and boring prig, who gets caught up in the details and misses the forest for the trees. In fact, I've highlighted and bolded the part that I found particularly ironic - the other person is not coming off as wanting to show "how much they know". You did. And if anyone stopped the flow, again, you did. You say you noticed that their eyes were glazing over. Yet you did not try to correct the derailment with a comment like "Oh, sorry - I sometimes forget that not everyone gets as excited about triathlon as I do. It was pretty hard, but I had a great time. What about you - what do you like to do, activity-wise?" - see? you acknowledge the derailing, respond to the statements originally made, and then turn the question back to the other person.

Right^^^^

In my expereince, if I try to make small talk, and possibly compliment someone on their achievement, and the first thing out of there mouth was a clarification or "correction" of my question?  I will tune out as well.

Don't correct ME question.  Answer it, let me ask another, then let it come out.  THAT is letting the conversation flow.  Sounds like the OP force the conversation to go in the direction HE wanted, no the asker.

Most of the time, if someone get's wind that I did an Ironman, the question will eventually come around if it was in Hawaii or not.  Then I explain then have like a dozen qualifying races, and Kona is just the championships.  Maybe relate it to that they have marathons all over, but only one Boston or NYC marathon.

True--it is a very rare person who asks, "How are you" to get a real answer.  It's just social currency in which any short-to-medium positive answer works and any very brief negative answer can be dealt with.

So how about this:  the question wasn't about the tattoo or triathlons or IM at all--it was simply an opening to talk to someone, to make some kind of social connection.  Perhaps?