I can relate.
I have actually been struck, or as close as you can be without being directly hit.
When I was around 15 or so, the fam was taking a trip to new orleans. Well we were at the zoo when a massive thunderstorm came up, so we took shelter in the snake pit exhibit (creepy!).
Well, it looked like it was clearing out, so we decided to make a break for it across the central courtyard back to the boat. We got about halfway there when my head felt like it was about to explode, and my vision went bright white. Then came the sound! I swear I thought I was dead.
After a few moments, my head cleared and I looked around and saw my dad picking himself up off of the ground, and a group of people were running towards us asking if we were ok. They said that my dads hair stood up on end right before it struck. It must have hit a tree 3 feet way from us, because there were several dead birds that fell out of it immediately after it happend.
It turned the metal ring at the top of my baseball cap black (actually scorched my head a little right in that spot), and fried the watch I had on at the time, on top of a SPLITTING headache.