Because the tip of the moon's shadow ... the area of "totality" ... is never more than a couple hundred miles across, It never covers a single place for more than 7 minutes, and can never stay on the Earth's surface for more than a few hours altogether during one eclipse.
If you're not inside that small area, you don't see a total eclipse.
It's the ratio of the speed of light in vacuum to the speed of light in that medium.