She continued running throughout high school and college at the University of Alabama where she graduated in 1998 but became interested in triathlon from watching Ironman Kailua-Kona in Hawaii.

On 11 October 2008, Ficker finished 39th in the Women's Pro division at the Ford Ironman World Championship in a time of 11:07:48 (1:00:37 swim, 6:02:00 bike, 3:55:03 run).

On January 28, 2007 in the 3M Austin Half Marathon, Ficker finished in a personal best 1:14:07 (5:39/mile pace) to place third behind Kathy Butler (1:11:12) and Caroline Cheptanui (1:13:55).

On 20 April 2008, Ficker competed in the Women's Marathon 2008 U.S. Olympic Team trials in Boston, racing for club ASICS.

[2] On March 29, 2009, Ficker won the Austin Statesman Capitol 10K race for the second year in a row with a time of 34:56 (5:38 minutes/mile pace).

On November 1, 2009, Ficker finished tenth in the ING New York City Marathon in a personal best time of 2:39:30 (6:05 minutes/mile pace), earning $500.

On February 20, 2011, Ficker won the 20th Austin Marathon in 2:50:35 (6:31/mile), beating the second-place finisher Jessica Mike by 11 minutes, 18 seconds.

[6] On March 27, 2011 Ficker failed to win her fourth consecutive Austin Statesman Capitol 10K race, finishing fifth with a time of 36:11 (5:50/mile).