The closest I've ever been to a lightning strike was right here in NYC. It was on the day of the Escape NY century and the remnants of Hurricane Hugo were coming through. The start was at 122nd Street and Riverside, I made it up to about 135th when the rain started coming down in buckets. By the time I got to 140th I was totally soaked, then the lightning started. One bolt came down that clearly hit ground, in the vicinity of 122nd. It scared the hell out of me. The ride was cancelled at that point. Nobody was hurt. I waited under an awning for about a half an hour when I decided to make a dash to the subway. I was dripping wet in the 15 seconds or so I was out there. When I sat down on the train the water squished out of my padded shorts. EEEEWWWWWWWW.